


Another Road Redefined

by orphan_account



Category: Cobra Starship, Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, The Academy Is..., Twenty One Pilots
Genre: 1950s-60s AU, Abuse, Anxiety, Depression, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Triggers:, and annother story I wrote, but now it's back, but oh well here goes, cause I can't be stopped by faulty tech, cause it's based off grease, definitely gonna be some smut, more triggers/ tags to be addedd, probably not accurate though, this got deleted, update:, whoooo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 00:28:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 46,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7735951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another school year starts for Tyler and his friends, along with the Greasers. Josh joins the school as a greaser, and begins to gain interest for a certain basketball player. But will they be kept apart by different groups? Or will it be like Romeo and Juliet at a sockhop?<br/><strong>Title credit: Hologram- Crown The Empire</strong></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I totally spaced out on what tags/ summary were here before, but oh well this is what's here now. There were some issues with this before I edited out, and now it should be all good (and if not please tell me I'll be glad to fix them). Thank you so much to the friendly anon on tumblr who let me know about the mishap by the way. If you're reading this YOU ROCK BRO!!! And again the POV

***Tyler***  


“Name?”  
  
“Joseph, Tyler.” The young girl flipped through her stack of papers before finding the one with my class schedule on it and handing it to me.  
  
“Here you go! Have a great school year!” She cheerfully replied. I waved slightly before getting my locker and textbooks, finding my friends in the library after.  
  
“Hey Ty!” Jenna greeted while Dallon waved.  
  
“Hey. So what classes did you guys get?”  
  
“The usual stuff- except Dallon got all of the advanced classes, again.” Jenna rolled her eyes playfully while Dallon smiled.  
  
“I can’t help it if I’m just that much smarter. Besides, you forgot to mention how you got fashion, like you’ve been requesting for a long time.” Jenna nodded eagerly, her eyes lit up.  
  
“Yeah! Now I can finish all the classes needed for beauty school.” I smiled.  
  
“That’s great Jenna! I’m really happy for you.” Her gaze went to a loud group of guys at the table behind us. We collectively groaned slightly as they continued joking.  
  
“Greasers.” Jenna rolled her eyes before collecting her things.  
  
“I’m going to find Patrick, he said my locker was nearby his.” Dallon followed her lead, leaving me by myself at the table. I took advantage of the alone time (technically I was by myself at the table, just not the room) to write. I heard snickering from the table as the group got up.  
  
“Are you seriously doing homework already? Nerd.” Their leader, Pete Wentz rolled his eyes before smacking my books off the table and walking off, him and his group laughing. All except one- _he must be new,_ I thought. He definitely fit their profile- leather jacket, and intimidating appearance, complete with nose ring and dyed red mohawk. His light brown eyes glanced over the situation with sympathy before turning and walking away, chuckling slightly as he followed. I picked up my books and walked out, being tripped by mohawk guy. The entire group laughed while I started picking my things up, Mohawk guy placing a paper in one of my books. I sighed and walked over to my locker, Patrick standing there.  
  
“Hey Tyler!” He replied with his usual cheeriness.  
  
“Hey.” I smiled slightly, shoving my things into the locker before slamming it shut.  
  
“You okay, Ty?” I shrugged.  
  
“Yeah, it’s just them again. They have a new guy too.” He nodded.  
  
“Josh Dun- their new member. He’s from the southern side of town, comes from a really rich family.” I groaned slightly.  
  
“I live on that side of town! They’re gonna be there every night, aren’t they?” He shrugged, smiling reassuringly after.  
  
“Maybe, maybe not. Besides, it’s not like he’s going to be as bad as them.”  
  
“How do you know that? He already tripped me today.” I rolled my eyes.  
  
“Oh. You’re not hurt, are you?” I smiled slightly, relieved at the slight subject change.  
  
“I’ll be fine. I should probably get going, my parents wanted me to go to the store before coming home.” He nodded before hugging me.  
  
“See you later then, Tyler!” I waved while walking off.  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so there's some Spanish- speaking going on in here, so if I translated anything wrong (the magic of Google Translate sometimes isn't all that magical), please let me know!

***Josh***

“Hey Josh! Get a load of that guy!” Pete high-fived me while walking towards their- our- hangout. It was hard to believe I had just done that, but it was the only way to give him my note without looking weird to them. I forced another chuckle.

 “Yeah, he didn’t even try to stop falling! Just dropped like a sack of rocks.” Gabe laughed along before shouting in another language and going behind Brendon.

 “ _ Maldito Calor _ ! He looks incredible today.” Brendon laughed before moving towards the side.

 “Dude, way to be obvious about it. He probably knows you like him now!” Everyone started laughing while Gabe blushed.

 “Not if he doesn’t know Spanish…” Pete rolled his eyes. I glanced around the area, only seeing the track team.

 “Which one are you talking about?” He gestured towards the captain while he was jogging around the track, long hair tied into a bun.

 “Beckett. He’s so hot, and I bet he’s so nice…”

 “Wait, you never talked to him?” Pete scoffed.

 “He doesn’t even know his first name. And he wants to find out on his own, so none of us can tell him.” I rolled my eyes.

 “That’s fricken stupid. Just talk to him now- they’re done practicing.” I commented while he started to panic.

 “I can’t now! I’m not dressed up for it. I-I’ll stutter, or switch into Spanish!I” Brendon shoved him off the bleachers and into the track right as Beckett walked over. Pete laughed and high-fived him.

 “Maybe now he’ll finally get some!” We watched as Gabe and Beckett talked before walking off together. 

 “Get some!” Brendon yelled over at them while laughing. Gabe flipped him off while walking with ‘Beckett’ to the locker room. Pete and Brendon laughed before looking over at me.

 “What?”

 “So, who do you like?” Brendon smiled mischievously.

 “No one, I literally just moved here. I haven’t met enough people to like someone yet.”

 “Fair enough. Looks like we’re having a party this weekend!” Pete yelled happily before running off. Brendon looked around before moving closer.

 “Seriously, who do you like?” I rolled my eyes.

 “No one, I already said.” He smiled.

 “Dude if it’s a guy, none of us give a fuck. You saw Gabe run after William like that, we’re all gay. So no biggie.” I sighed.

 “Even though I am gay, that doesn’t mean I found someone I like yet.” I rolled my eyes while he shrugged.

 “Alright. I’m gonna find out though. And then I’m hooking you two up!” He smiled before running off, leaving me by myself. I looked over to the other set of bleachers, seeing the same guy from the library- Tyler (I read the name on some of his papers). I waved over at him, trying to get his attention. He looked over before packing his things and leaving. I guess I deserved it though- I did trip him earlier. I just hope he read the note. I sighed and grabbed my skateboard, riding home.

      “Hi sweetie! Did you have a good first day?” My mom called out from the kitchen where she was making dinner.

 “I guess. It was just orientation though. I made some friends already at least.” Her beaming face poked out of the doorway.

 “That’s great sweetheart! Why don’t we talk about that more at dinner? You can start your homework now, so it’ll be done by the time your dad gets home. He probably wants some quality time with you since we moved.” I sighed and nodded, bringing my things upstairs.

 “Alright.” I spent most of the time mentally preparing myself for later. Time with my dad right after work usually wasn’t the best thing ever, since his “job” wasn’t the best thing ever either.

***Tyler***   


      “Tyler! Dinner!” My mom shouted up the stairs to where I was practicing in my room. I walked down and sat at the table with the rest of my family for dinner.

 “So how was school, son?” My dad asked across the table. I shrugged and continued pushing food around my plate, feeding some to the dog so they’d think I was eating.

 “Good I guess. Just like any other day, even though it was just orientation.” He nodded.

 “How is Jenna?” My mom asked.

 “Fine. She got fashion 101, like she’s been signing up for since freshmen year.”  She smiled.

 “That’s great! We should have her and her family over after church for a celebration!” She started cleaning up the table, making plans to herself for Sunday.

 “What about you, Tyler? Have you made a move yet?” I stared down at the table.

 “No, I already told you. I’m not interested in her in that way. We’re just friends.” He got up from the table.

 “Well you better soon. Nice girls like Jenna don’t stay single long before being taken by the bad guys.” He pat my shoulder before walking to his office. I walked back upstairs and started on my homework before practicing late into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

***Tyler***

“Tyler! You’ll be late!” My mom shouted over the bothersome beeping of my alarm clock. I hit the snooze button before crawling out of bed and getting ready for the day.

 “Morning, son.” My dad from behind his newspaper while my mom placed a plate full of food in front of me for breakfast. My siblings came running down the stairs, quickly eating their breakfasts before kissing my mom’s cheek and running out to the bus.

 “Come on sweetheart, you’ll be late.” My mother calmly stated while handing me my bag. I stood up and grabbed my bag, kissing her cheek before walking out to the bus, dreading the day ahead.

 “Hey Tyler!” Jenna shouted from the back of the bus. I forced a smile and walked to the back, sitting beside her and Dallon.

 “Hey.” 

 “You had trouble sleeping again, didn’t you?” Dallon asked, noticing my tired eyes.

 “Yeah… not as bad as other nights though.” He nodded.

 “We have the same first, so if you really wanna find someplace quiet to go I’ll give you my notes.” Jenna smiled.

 “Thanks, but I’ll be fine. I have to keep my grades up to stay on the team and keep my parents from worrying.” She nodded.

 “Alright, but if you change your mind between now and then, my offer still stands.”

      The rest of the day passed by slowly, making it even harder to not fall asleep in class. This was especially true for my least favorite of this year- math. I eventually gave in and had my head slumped over on the desk for the second half of the period, thankful it was the last. I jerked back into alertness when the bell rang, groaning when I realized I hadn’t finished my notes. The new guy- Josh- sat beside, and laughed slightly when he heard me. I rolled my eyes and started packing my things while he slid a few papers on my desk, filled with the day’s notes. I ran up to him on the way out.

 “Hey- you left these.” He smiled.

 “I have mine. I saw you sleeping, so I copied another set for you so you wouldn’t fall behind.” I glanced down at the papers in my hand before sliding them into my folder.

 “Oh. Thanks. You didn’t have to do that.” 

 “Yeah, but I figured it’d be nice. Math is a hard class, after all. See you tomorrow!” He called out before standing on his skateboard and riding off. What  _ was  _ he? He wasn’t like any of the others, he was nice. Maybe Patrick was right, and I had nothing to worry about. There was something different about him, but I couldn't figure out what. I sighed and walked off towards the bleachers, pulling out my notebook and continuing on my latest project.

***Josh***   


      "Come on, man! It can't be that bad!" I rolled my eyes.

 "No way! I already told you- I don't know enough people here yet!" Staying over at Pete's house was a lot more stressful than I thought- instead of doing normal stuff, like eating or going to the park, we were playing the most intense game of truth or date I've ever been involved in. And they weren't taking passes on  _ anything _ , much to my dismay.

 "Tell us who you like, Josh! I know you like someone, because you wouldn't be so determined to hide it if you didn't!" Pete shouted back while Brendon and I yelled back and forth.

 "N-No! I don't like anyone, I swear! Can't you come up with something else!?" Brendon smirked.

 "Looks like he's going with dare instead." 

 "Ooh, this gonna be good!" Gabe laughed from where he was watching in amusement before.

 "What should we dare him to do?" Brendon asked. Pete reached over and smacked him with a pillow.

 "'We'?! I'm daring him, since you asked him the truth!" Brendon groaned.

 "Fine! It better be something good though!" 

 "Oh it so is! I dare you to make a prank call-"

 "That's it!? Are you kidding Pete, you're failing!"

 "I wasn't fucking done, Brendon! I dsre you to prank call that tough guy Frank, and pretend you're that art nerd he's into." He smirked while high-fiving Brendon.

 "That's what I'm talking about!"

 "Hell no, I'm not doing that! I'm not getting myself killed!" Gabe scoffed.

 "You could tell us who you like instead..." I huffed.

 "Where's your phone?" They giggled while following me to where his phone was in what felt like walking on death row to me.

 "Here's his number, I got it from Bob." Pete handed me a slip of paper with the number scrawled on it. I sighed and picked the phone up off the reciever before dialing it in.

_"Hello?"_ A bored voice answered. I cleared my throat before mimicking what they said this Gerard guy sounded like.

 "Hey, it's Gerard. Is this Frank?"

_  "... No you're not. I know Gerard's number, and this isn't it- who is this?" _

 "Is Frank there?"

  _"No. Who are you?"_ They started sounding more annoyed. I pulled the phone away and whispered panicked to them while they watched.

 "It's not Frank, what do I do?"

 "What do you mean it's not!? Who is it?" I pushed the phone back against my ear and continued doing my impression.

 "Who are you, if you're not Frank?"

_  "Tyler. You would know this if you  were _ _Gerard, because he has my number for when we do projects together in art class. Who are you?"_ I pulled the phone away again.

 "It's Tyler."

 "Tyler Joseph? Oh this'll be good, we  _ have  _ to prank him!" He grabbed the phone from me before talking in it, making his voice sound deeper. "Is this Tyler Joseph?" I heard his replies faintly.

_  "Yeah? Who is this now? If you're pranking me,-" _

 "This isn't a prank! I'm... Patrick Johnson, with Ohio State. I do basketball scouting."

_"And you're calling me because...?"_ His time sounded incredulous.

 "Because I'm recruiting you, obviously!"

_  "Really?" _

 "Definitely. You've got talent, kid. Come over to the football field tonight at eight and I'll be there with your recruitment papers!" He stifled laughter.

  _"Okay, I'll be there! See you in... twenty minutes!"_ He hung up before laughing uncontrollably.

 "This is going to be great! What should we do to him there?" 

 "Egg him from the bleachers?" Gabe offered.

 "No, we already did that one this year."

 "Water balloons?"

 "We're not pelting him with anything! We need to do better than that!"

 "Well no one else is giving any fucking ideas, so throwing eggs at him is all we got!"

 "Let's get him with slurpees!" Brendon exclaimed excitedly.

 "The fuck?" Pete looks over, slightly intrigued.

 "The 7-11 by school just opened."

 "So?"

 "So let's get some slurpees and dump them on him! Come at him from behind and just drench him, y'know?" Pete nodded.

 "Why not? We haven't done that before, let's do it!" I follwed them out as we walked to the 7-11. I forced myself to laugh along, but dreaded what was coming for Tyler. I felt bad for the guy, with how much shit he was getting out through by them.

***Tyler***

      I waited on the football field for ten minutes (deciding to be a little early) nervously. I tugged at the grass around me, wondering what the recruiter would say. Was I really good enough to go to a good school like Ohio State? I would only find out when he got here. I heard grass rustling from behind me, so I turned to see if he was there. I sighed when I saw no one. What if this was all just a prank and I was I going to be out here all night?

 "Happy recruitment!" Multiple people shouted from behind before dumping something in my head, the cold oozing down my spine. I looked over in surprise to see the main greasers and Josh standing there, the other three laughing while Josh chuckled, his eyes grimacing. I looked down and the sticky red liquid all over me in disgust.

 "What even is this?" They laughed louder while walking off, praising each other for the execution of their prank. I plopped back down on the field and fought back the tears. How could I be so stupid!? I should've known it wasn't real. After a few minutes, the lights went off, leaving me in the dark. Someone came over and tapped my shoulder. I sniffled, trying to ignore the stickiness of the drying syrupy liquid.

 "W-What?"

 "I brought you these, figured you'd want something not drenched in slurpie." I looked up to see Josh with a bag of clothes and a flashlight.

 "No, thanks. I'll change when I get home." I stood up and started walking away from him.

 "Look, I'm sorry about them. I didnt think they'd go that far, I swear-"

 "You didn't think? They're greasers- you're a greaser, what did you expect!? You're all like that- rude, arrogant, and just-!" I groaned while walking away. He ran after me, grabbing at my wrist to stop me. I winced in pan, hidden well in the darkness since he kept his flashlight pointed down at the ground (real clever).

 "Look- I said I'm sorry, I don't know what more you want! It can't be undone, so just move on! Yeah, they're idiots, but they're also my friends, so it'd be nice for you to not talk about them so rudely." I rolled my eyes.

 "Well, do you know how your  _ friends _ really are? You just moved here, you haven't heard the stories." I yanked my wrist free and continued walking home. "Just do me a favor and leave me alone, will you?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact I think I accidentally got my dog in trouble and that sucks. I was walking around eating cereal and when he tried to get some I stepped to the side and bumped into my stepdad while he was cooking and my stepdad thought it was the dog and now the dog got sent to his room for until after dinner. It doesn't feel good to make the dog get in trouble in case you were wondering, it sucks. I'm half-tempted to go join him lol


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This has underage drinking so yeah, warning for that. Please be smart and not drink until the legal age, it doesn't end well usually from what I've seen. There's also so implied sexual stuff, so another warning. I think the most that's implied though is making out, so yeah

***Tyler***    


Throughout most of the weekend, I stayed inside my room and practiced mostly. I couldn't get over what happened Friday night, and Saturday wasn't much better. I couldn't get the lyrics to a new song quite right,  and it was bothering me.

 "Tyler! Phone call!" My mom shouted up the stairs while I was writing. I groaned and got off my bed and went downstairs, taking the phone from her.

 "Hello?"

 "Hey Tyler!" Jenna's usual cheer responded.

 "Hey Jenna, how are you?"

 "Good. Listen, there's a party tonight and-"

 "You know I'm not really into parties, Jen."

 "Yeah, but please? Just go to this one with me and that'll be it for the entire school year, I promise. Patrick decided not to go with me this time, so I'm asking you as a friend." I sighed, seeing my dad give a thumbs- up out the corner of my eye.

 "Alright. I'll pick you up at six and then we go there together?"

 "Yes! Thank you, Ty! See you then!" She hung up after. I put the phone on the receiver a d walked back upstairs, getting ready for the party.

      "So are you ready?" My mom asked as I walked downstairs.

 "Yeah. Is it alright for me to use the car?" She nodded, tossing me the keys.

 "Be back by eleven! We have church tomorrow, and then we're having Jenna and her family over for a barbeque."

 "Alright." I kissed her cheek. "See you in the morning then." I got in the car and drove over to Jenna's.

 "Hey, Ty. I didn't think you'd show." I scoffed.

 "I told you I would go with you didn't I? So where am I going?" 

 "It's on the other side of town from here, over in the south area."

 "So over by my house?"

 "Yeah, a few streets over." I nodded and drove to the address, finding parking closer to my house.

 "Alright, let's do this!" She smiled while hopping out of the car. I followed he lead inside, the overbearing scent of booze and booming of loud music overcomimg me from just the front yard. I groaned internally while walking inside, following Jenna in.

 "Here man, this'll help you." Someone handed me a cup filled with who-knows-what with a smile. "Bottoms up!" They walked off while I glanced at the cup in disgust.

 "Come on, Tyler. Just one won't hurt you, promise. I do this all the time!" Jenna came over with some of the other cheerleaders, giggling in between sips. I sighed and shrugged before downing it's contents in one go.

 "Yeah! Go Tyler!" They all cheered giddily, one winking at me before walking off, her eyes still on me.

 "C'mon, Ty. Wanna have some fun?"

 "U-Um, no thanks... I'm just Jenna's ride, I-I probably shouldn't even be drinking."

 "Come on, Tyler! It'll be fine, trust me!" Jenna whined.

 "Yeah, Tyler! Debby's nice, she won't do you no harm!" Another girl hanging off of Jenna's shoulder commented. I sighed, following her. 

 "Alright. But just five minutes, no more."

 "With boys like you- five minutes is all I need." She seductively replied, pulling me after her to another bedroom. 

 "Hey- drink up man!" Someone handed me another drink, tilting ot towards my mouth. I coughed slightly before finishing it.

 "Good boy, Tyler. Bet I can make you feel better than that crap though." She pulled me closer, slipping her tongue in my mouth. I kissed back from instinct, my mind too clouded for any clear thoughts to break through. I groaned as she palmed me through my pants. I felt myself being pulled away by someone else, but couldn't tell who. A thick fog had settled over everything, making it hard to do anything but what I was pressured to.

 "Come on, this guy will do it since you're too chicken!" The person pulling me shouted before sticking something- a funnel- in my mouth.

 "Hey, I ain't chicken! I just don't handle crappy beer like this well. Now if we were doing shots, that'd be something else. But-"

 "Can it Brendon! You're chicken and you know it, so let this guy show you how it's done!" The person replied. "You ready dude?" I sounded in wary approval, unsure of what was going to happen. They grabbed a large barrel and tipped its contents into the funnel, more beer entering my system. I took in as much of it at a time as possible, their cheers riotous.

 "He's already almost through the whole pack! Go! Go! Go!" Soon after they cheered loudly while taking the funnel out. I smiled up at them giddily, giggling weirdly.

 "That was awesome!" I slurred out while high-fiving everyone. The girl from before- Debby- came over and started bringing me back to the bedroom.

 "Come on tough guy, our five minutes aren't over yet." I ignored the twisting in my gut and followed her back eagerly.

      "Ugh, what the heck..." I groaned, my head pounding. Someone beside me chuckled while placing a damp washcloth across my head.

 "Wow Ty. You are one party animal." I opened my bloodshot eyes to see Jenna over me.

 "What even happened?" She laughed again, handing me some pills.

 "Those will help with the headache. And are you sure you want to know that? You probably don't." I groaned again while dry-swallowing the painkillers.

 "You're right, I don't. Just tell me I wasn't that bad?"

 "Eh, well... You went off with Debby and next I hear she's complaining about you puking before anything could actually happening.. You also drank an entire six pack of beer." My heart plummeted. I did that much damage in a few hours!?

 "Oh my gosh, my parents are going to kill me. I had sex with someone! While being drunk!"

 "No you didn't. She left before you could actually do anything other than kiss. I got you covered though, Tyler. I told  your mom some food there was bad and you kept puking from it so you were staying here so you could get better. We're meeting them over at your house after church though for that barbecue, so you should get ready. She gave me a change of clothes for you, since you probably don't want to wear what you were before."

 "That bad?" She chuckled.

 "Needless to say, you probably would be better off burning them." I groaned.

 "Please feel free to." She stood up and fixed the skirt of her dress before leaving.

 "Go ahead and change, we're leaving soon." I nodded and started getting ready for the day. I walked out to the front room to see Jenna and her parents waiting.

 "You feeling any better, honey?" Mrs. Black asked, pressing the back of her hand to my forehead.

 "A lot, actually. Thank you so much for letting me stay here overnight."

 "It's no trouble. Some of the things these kids make these days, honestly. Schools would be better off giving cooking lessons instead of math class."

 "Yes, but if all the young boys are cooking, who will run the factories? Women?" Mr. Black scoffed, laughing at his joke while Mrs. Black laughed along.

 "Yes, I suppose that is silly. Women have a gentler touch about them that makes us better homemakers." 

 "Definitely. Well, we better get over there, wouldn't want to be late after all the effort your mom out into planning this." He replied before we all piled into the car and drove over.

      "Tyler! Are you alright, are you still sick?" My mom came over as soon as we pulled up, a few other people there."

 "I'll be fine, mom. It's just a little headache now, that's all." She tsked while handing me a plate piled high with food.

 "Well eat up. Getting something good in your system will help, I'm sure." She walked off and started mingling with the other families over, a few coming by to say hi to me. I looked around at who was there, seeing Patrick's family, Dallon's family (even though they don't go to our church), and a few others whose names I didn't know but I've seen them around before. I looked over towards another family I didn't recognize, my mom bringing them over.

 "Tyler, these are the Duns- they're new in town." I smiled slightly and went to say hi to each- the parents, both daughters, one son, and- oh no.  _ Josh _ .

 "Hey, I think I've seen you around school before. Tyler, right?" He asked while shaking my hand.

 "Y-Yeah. Tyler."

 "Nice to finally meet you, Tyler." He smiled before walking off. My mom walked back to me after, handing me another plate of food.

 "Tyler, sweetie? Do you think you could talk to one of their kids more? He's- um... he's a bit of a wayward spirit. Maybe you could help bring him back?" I swallowed hard, nodding. I didn't want to cross my mom.

 "Okay. Josh, right? I figured, because of his hair."

 "Yeah. See if he'll do basketball with you, so you can spend more time hanging out with him!" She smiled before walking off. I sat by myself for a while longer, watching everyone else talking to each other. Someone sat down beside me before clearing their throat. I looked over to see Josh and rolled my eyes.

 "Here to dump more stuff on me?"

 "I wasn't involved in that, I swear. We weren't even going to prank you originally- Pete got the wrong number."

 "So then how did accidentally calling me lead to dumping slushies on me?" Her shrugged.

 "I don't really know, they planned that around me. I just got roped into doing it without know what 'it' was." I sighed and nodded.

 "Alright. My mom says she wants us to hang out more, so I guess I have to be nice." He smirked.

 "Is it because I'm a wild child with hair as red as my bloodthirst?" He started laughing.

 "Um... yeah?"

 "I'm not bloodthirsty, promise."

 "I kinda figured, but you never know. Things can always get weirder." He chuckled.

 "Yeah, they can. So... what should we do to hang out after school?" I shrugged.

 "I'm usually at school until six for basketball."

 "Basketball, eh? How hard is it to get on the team?" I chuckled.

 "Depends on your skill. Tryouts are in a month, so there's still time for you to practice." He scoffed.

 "You doubt my abilities!? Now I  _ have  _ to get on the team to prove you wrong!"

 "Alright. I'm usually captain, so if you want some pointers, I'm your guy." He nodded.

 "So can you help me practice?" I laughed.

 "One of your abilities needs practice!? Well, that's it. My faith in the sport has been lost." He laughed.

 "Just help me out?" I cracked a smile.

 "Alright... We start tomorrow, so be ready!"

 "Got it, coach." He rolled his eyes.

 "Hey, basketball is a lot of work!"

 "Then how did you get so good at it, Mr. I-make-basketball-look-effortless?" I glared slightly to avoid blushing from the compliment. Why was I blushing from him though? Everyone praises me for my skills, but this just felt  _ different _ somehow.

 "Practice everyday since childhood, and then even harder in high school to get scholarships." His eyes widened slightly.

 "Wow, point taken. Lots and lots of work." I smirked.

 "Exactly. Maybe I could help you get on the team though?" He shrugged.

 "It'll give us more time to hang out, like our moms want. I just have to worry about them, they won't let me live it down if they find out." I nodded, knowing who he was referencing- the greasers.

 "What days do you guys usually hang out?" He shrugged.

 "Just whenever. They've seen my parents though, so I can make up some bullshit excuse about studying. It'd be half true after all, since my parents want my to study hard." I nodded.

 "But you probably want to keep your image with them, don't you?" He sighed.

 "Yeah, they are my friends..."

  "There's no practices on weekends, so you can do all your homework after school and practice so that leaves the weekends to them." He nodded.

 "Yeah. Yeah, that might work. Thanks, Tyler." He smiled.

 "No problem." We continued talking about school and other similar topics until it got late and his family left. After helping my mom clean up, I went to my room and attempted to sleep.

 

*Josh*  


     "Oh my God, dude! That scrawny guy totally out-drank you!" Gabe shouted at a flustered Brendon as I walked up.

 "Hey, look who decided to show their pretty face 'round here. We missed you at the party last night." Pete commented when I sat by them.

 "Yeah, and it was  _ for  _ you!" Brendon shouted.

 "Sorry, my family had plans Saturday, and then today they made me to to church and some dumb barbecue with them."

 "You so missed out though! This tiny kid came in there with that hot cheerleader Jenna, and out-drinks Brendon!"

 "Well he sounds like quite the card. Any idea who he was?" They started laughing.

 "Ooh, is someone interested in bad boys?"

 "Sounds pretty straight though, so you might not get a chance."

 "Hey, if he's raised anything like my family, there's always room for curiosity he can't really test!"

 "So then how'd you figure it out then eh, tough-shot?"

 "To put it simply- what comes to mind when I jack off? Not boobs, that's for sure." 

 "Fair point. You know who that scrawny kid was?" Pete looked to Brendon.

 "Other than my new competition? Not a fucking clue."

 "I know who he was! He's that nerd we got earlier, Tyler!" Gabe responded. Pete choked on air while Brendon looked shocked.

 "What- no way! Couldn't be, that kid's weak! Probably couldnt even handle that much beer."

 "Yeah, I bet he's never had a beer in his life, little goodie-two-shoes." I scoffed.

 "Yeah, really. Who was it then?"

 "It really was him! I saw his fucking face when we gave him the keg!" I rolled my eyes.

 "Sure, whatever. Like he could even handle one beer!" They all laughed while I mentally chastised myself for talking about him. He was so nice earlier, why did I have to do that?

 "You bring up a good point there, Josh. C'mon, let's go hang out in the Wal-Mart for a while, probably get kicked out." We walked over to Wal-Mart from where we were hanging out at the park and stayed in there for a few hours, eventually getting kicked out for being too rowdy and because they were closing.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has referenced abuse, alcoholism, and sexual stuff, so please look out for that and be safe :)

***Josh***

The next day went by a little too quick for my liking, and soon enough I was at the blacktop waiting for Tyler to come over. He showed up a few minutes after, clearly dressed for the sport while I still had my leather jacket on.

 "Hey, Josh." He greeted while dribbling a basketball.

 "Hey. Have a good day?" He shrugged before passing it over towards me.

 "As good as it can be I guess." I grunted when the ball hit my chest, holding it in my hands. "So what  _ do _ you know about basketball?" I chuckled, looking at the ground while bouncing the bright orange ball.

 "Not much. Basic passing, dribbling, and that it goes in the basket." He laughed slightly.

 "Well, it's a start. What did you want to cover today?" I shrugged.

 "I'm not really sure."

 "Alright, we can go one-on-one so I can see what you need to work on." He grinned before running after me.

 "Hey, go easy on me!" I started running, trying to avoid his advances for the ball.

 "Hey that's traveling!" He stopped.

 "What?"

 "You're supposed to dribble the ball when you run with it, it's against the rules not to." I huffed.

 "Alright then. Shall we continue?" I took off my jacket and tossed it aside. He started running again while I avoided him, making sure to bounce the ball while doing so. He quickly got the ball from me and sprinted off, tossing the ball perfectly into the basket while I caught up to him.

 "How... can you... run that much!?" I panted while he laughed.

 "It's not that much running. We do more just for warm-ups." He tossed me the ball.

 "Warm-ups!? Oh hell no, I'm not cut out for this!" 

 "Oh come on! It's not that bad, Josh!" I smirked slightly.

 "I guess so." I dashed off immediately and tossed the ball at the metal hoop, signing in defeat when it hit the backboard and rolled off.

 "That one was good."

 "Really? It didn't even go in!" He laughed slightly.

 "Hey, some guys airball it at tryouts. You're already doing pretty alright." He got the ball and started running again with it. I chased after him to no prevail as the ball perfectly swished in the basket again.

 "So what does that out us at- twenty to zero?" He scoffed.

 "Baskets are only worth two points, so four- nothing." He took off running again, blocking the ball as I tried to get it.

 "Oh that's a relief." I rolled my eyes while snatching the ball. I ran off imediately, trying to outrun him. I quickly stopped and tossed the ball into the basket, it bouncing in after rebounding the backboard. "Ha!" I cheered while retrieving the ball.

 "Now four- one." He smirked.

 "What- one!? You said they were worth two!" He pointed at the ground.

 "You shot from the free-throw line. Those are one point. Anything past that up to here," He pointed inside the half circle around the basket, "Is two points. And anything outside that up to half-court is three points." I nodded.

 "So if I make it in at half-court that's three points?" He snorted.

 "You make that in I'll buy you a drink from the soda shop. Those are pretty hard to make since it's so far away." I smirked while walking back.

 "Prepare to fulfill that. I like black coffee best, by the way." I looked back at him before aiming at the basket and shooting. The ball flew straight at the basket and stopped right in front of it, bouncing down on the concrete. Tyler started laughing.

 "Better luck next time." I groaned.

 "Can we call it a day in all the running at least?"

 "Alright, we'll work on shooting then." We continued practicing for another hour before I had to go home. I bid my farewells for the day to Tyler before making my way home, groaning internally when I saw my dad's car in the driveway already. I walked into the house as quietly as possible, hoping not to get noticed.

 "Where the hell were you, Joshua!?" My dad raised his drunken voice as I walked last the front room.

 "At school, I was practicing. For the basketball team, remember? You said to do more extracurricular activities..." His hand came down on my cheek, leaving behind a white-hot stinging.

 "Don't you talk back to me! And don't you be late again, we have lots to do tonight." I whimpered while following him upstairs, dreading what came next.

      The next morning I woke up completely sore. I got ready quickly and left for school a little early to avoid being here when my dad woke up in case he was still in one of his "moods". I got to school and sighed, immediately going under the bleachers. I didn't ditch a lot, but right now I just needed to be alone. I was startled when I saw someone coming over- Tyler. He didn't come under the bleachers too though- sitting on top instead, notebook in one hand and a pen in the other. I observed quietly as he scribbled into the notebook thoughtfully, occasionally crossing out what he wrote and changing it. He groaned slightly when the ball rang but continued. He was cutting class? I mean, so was I, but I never took him as the type to cut class. I continued watching with interest as he filled pages in his notebook until the bell rang that signaled the end of first period. He shoved his notebook in his bag and walked off towards the main building. I waited a few minutes before leaving as well, walking (slightly limping) into my second class- English- a few minutes late. I sat down in the back and stared out boredly as the teacher lectured about Shakespeare or something like that.

      At the end of the day, I walked over to the basketball court to see Tyler already there.

 "Hey, Josh."

 "Hey."

 "You having a good day?"

 "I... guess?" He chuckled.

 "What- no one asks you about your day at home?"

 "Not really." I replied honestly.

 "Oh. Should we start then?" He started bouncing the basketball he was holding.

 "Sure, I'm ready for it this time!" He laughed slightly before running right past me (seriously, how is he that fast!?) and shooting it in the basket.

 "Uh-huh, sure are." He passed me the ball. I bounced it a few times before running off, avoiding his advances for it before shooting it at the basket, the satisfying  _ swish _ of it making it in following.

 "Ha!  Totally ready!" I passed him the ball and continued playing. He laughed slightly and ran by me again, blocking my attempts at getting the ball from him as he shot at the basket, missing. I took the opportunity and ran after the ball. He smirked as I ran back with it.

 "I'll be taking that."

 "But I just got it, it's my-"

 "You touched it when it was out, so it goes to me." I huffed and passed him the ball.

 "Whatever. This game's rigged..." He laughed.

_ "Really?" _

 "Yes,  _ really _ , now are you gonna stand there all pretty with it or start playing again?" I smirked when a slight blush rose to his cheeks before he started running again. I caught up to him and started going after the ball, managing to knock it out of his grasp. I smirked before running off and shooting, cheering when it made it in.

 "Wow, you learned fast." He commented while getting the ball.

 "Yeah I did! So how about that half-court shot, up for buying me a coffee today?" He laughed while passing it.

 "In your dreams!" I rolled my eyes and positioned myself on the half-court line before shooting, the ball landing beside the basket. I groaned.

 "Really?!  _ Really?! _ " He laughed.

 "Better luck next time." I rolled my eyes while getting my things.

 "Whatever. I have to go early today, so I'll see you tomorrow?" He smiled.

 "Sure thing. See you tomorrow." I smiled back while getting on my skateboard and riding home.

***Tyler***  


      "So how's school going, sweetheart?" My mom asked while serving dinner.

 "Alright."

 "Have you been talking to Josh?" I smiled slightly.

 "Yeah, he's been practicing with me after school. He wants to join the team."

 "That's great! Isn't it, dear?" She smiled over at my dad, who worked at the school as the basketball coach.

 "Uh-huh, we need some better people this year, since some of the best players graduated."

 "Don't forget that the best player is right across from you!" My mom chastised to try and hide the blow to my self-esteem.

 "He will be if he practices enough..." My dad replied before silence fell over the table. My siblings created small talk about their days at school while I sat silently, picking at my food rather than eating it. After a few moments, I threw away what was left on my plate as the rest of my family brought their plates into the kitchen for my mom to wash. I want upstairs and played some of the things I'd written earlier before getting ready for bed.

      The next morning I got up late and rushed to the bus, just barely making it on.

 "You slept in again?" Jenna asked when I sat down by her.

 "Yeah... new project." She nodded.

 "You should play some of your stuff, maybe you could get big." Dallon commented. I snorted.

 "Sure, when I'm not playing basketball for a living." He rolled his eyes.

 "Whatever, man. I was just saying."

 "I know. I appreciate it though, it's  an idea of something else to do." I smiled at him. He smiled back slightly before going back to making up his homework. 

 "Hey, Ty? There's another party this weekend, and I was thinking maybe-"

 "No thanks, Jen. One was enough." She smiled slightly.

 "I figured, but I thought I'd ask. You seemed to enjoy yourself at the last one..." my face flushed.

 "Can we never talk about that again? Ever?"

 "What happened? Dallon asked.

 "Nothing. Nothing happened." I replied too quickly. He raised his eyebrow while gathering his things as the bus stopped.

 "Alright... Well I have before-school tutoring to help out with, so I'll see you guys later." He walked out first, Jenna following.

 "Are you sure, Ty? I think Debby might be there." She teased

 "Positive. I don't even know who Debby is. Other than that." I cringed.

 "I know, I'm just messing with-" she froze. I looke over where she was to see the greasers approaching us.

 "Hey! Skinny!" Pete called out.

 "He's got a name, Pete..." Jenna replied.

 "Hey, Jen. Nice seeing you at my party." He smiled. That was  _ Pete's  _ party!? She scoffed. "I wanna talk to him though. Were you there?"

 "Was I where?" He glared over at one of the others.

 "See! Told you that couldn't have been him. Too bad, we were gonna offer you a spot with us if it was you..." He walked off, the rest following.

 "That was at his place?" I asked Jenna. She shrugged.

 "I wasn't sure- I was there for the other cheerleaders. I have to go, we have team meeting during first, so I'll see you later!" She smiled and waved as she walked off. I sighed and decided to try and hang out with Dallon before school, and besides- I needed to catch up in a few of my classes with a specific red-haired person that was definitely more interesting. I gathered my things and walked over to the counseling center where it was. My jaw dropped when I opened the door to see Dallon making out in the middle of the room with someone else.

 "I-I'm- wrong door..." I quickly walked out and started heading as far away as possible, stopping when I thrown into a wall by my shirt collar by one of the greasers- Brendon.

 "If you tell anyone about that, I swear I'll-"

 "Look, I-I don't know what was going on there, but I don't know anyone I could tell that to." The anger in his eyes resided to relief.

 "Um- thanks..." He smiled slightly before walking back into the counseling center. I fixed my shirt and walked over to the bleachers instead, trying to erase the image that was back in the counseling center.

      I passed most of the day by writing different lyrics in the back of the classroom, only paying half-attention to the actual classes. When school ended, I walked over to see Josh at the basketball courts already.

 "I was wondering when you'd show up, slowpoke. I think I can take you today." I scoffed.

 "Really? In that case, we can spend longer drilling different things, maybe run around the courts a few times." He groaned while I chuckled.

 "No running, please!"

 "How else do you expect to run an entire game? If you make starter position, you'll be out playing most of the time."

 "Fair point. Can we do something else first then?" I passed him the ball.

 "Alright, we can practice freethrows again." He nodded.

 "Okay. Easy enough." He flashed a bright smile and shot the ball in the hoop.

 "Not bad. Go further out." He scoffed.

 "Now I  _ know _ you're going easy on me, Joseph. Scared I'm getting better than you?" I scoffed as he threw the ball flawlessly into the basket again.

 "No! Just starting out with the basics, since you said you haven't played much before."

 "Well I've had a week playing with one of the best. I think I know a thing or two now." He smirked as he shot the ball in again as my face turned rosy.

 "You've gotten a lot better really fast." He shrugged.

 "It's not hard to improve when you have a good teacher." He backed up on the half- court line, a devious going on his eyes.

 "Oh no. There's  _ no _ way that it's going to make it after just a week. It took me  _ forever  _ practicing to make it from there!"

 "Watch and learn." He bounced the ball twice before throwing it across. The ball bounced across the backboard and spun around the run before finally falling into the hoop.

 "Wha-  _ how?!" _ He cheered while getting the ball. 

 "And I believe you promised me a drink." He smirked, passing me the ball while I stood in shock.

 "You had to have been practicing at home, that's the only way you could've improved so fast!" 

 "Nope. Only practiced with you, hot-shot. Are we gonna play now, or are you just gonna stare at me like I grew another eye?" I shook myself out of my daze and smiled.

 "Well then. No more going easy on you then, right?"

 "Bring it! I'm ready to beat you!" He smiled as we started. I ran right past him and shot the ball into the hoop. He stared wide-eyed. I smirked and passed him the ball.

 "Who's the one staring now?" He scoffed while getting the ball.

 "It's on now!" He took off his jacket and started running with the ball, trying to block my attempts at getting it. I grabbed it from the air when he shot it at the hoop and ran off. I doped past him and shot it in again off the backboard.

 "That's four- zero now." He huffed.

 "Oh, come on! How am I supposed to shoot at all when you're going so fast!?" I laughed slightly.

 "You said you were ready- no holding back." He groaned.

 "That's how this is gonna be?"He retrieved the ball.

 "Yep." I popped the 'p' while he smirked.

 "Alright then, no holding back."

      We continued playing for hours, the sun starting to get low in the sky. Josh sighed and stripped his shirt off, his torso shining from sweat.

 "Okay, I think you win that one. Can we call it a day  _ please _ ? We've been at it for hours!" He sat down on the pavement. I say down beside him, pulling a few bottles of water out of my bag, passing one to him.

 "Alright. We'll call it a day." He took a long drink, panting still from running.

 "So, about that drink..." He laughed while I groaned.

 "Is it really that important to you?"

 "Uh, yeah. You made a promise, and I intend on seeing it kept."

 "Alright. I don't have any money on me right now, so we'll do that tomorrow. Consider it a day off." I smiled slightly as the sun cast the last of its golden rays. 

 "Yes!" He smiled while standing up, the sunlight glowing across his tan skin gorgeously, almost angelic. "I'm keeping you to that."

 "Alright, alright. No running tomorrow. No shooting either." He smiled and grabbed his things.

 "It's a date then. See you tomorrow!" He smiled while walking away, my face bright red. A date? But it wasn't like that, it couldn't be. A get-together, more like. Yeah, a friendly get-together.

***Josh***  


      "Where were you!?" My dad shouted, breaking a bottle against the table as I walked in. I flinched while closing the door.

 "School. There was another basketball-" he wrapped his hand around my throat before pressing me into the wall.

 "Didn't I say not to talk back?" 

 "I- I'm so-sorry!" I choked out. He loosened his hold and dragged me upstairs, throwing me down.

 "Do you have any idea how hard this job is without you here!? Now we're falling behind because  _ you _ decided to screw around!" I looked up at him with tears on my cheeks.

 "I-I'm sorry, I was just-" He slammed his foot into my gut. 

 "Shut the fuck up. Now that you finally decided to show up, we can get something done." I nodded, wiping my face while changing.

      "You like that, don't you?" One of the clients cooed with his fingers inside me. I nodded, fighting back the pain.

 "M-mhmm." The older man pulled out before lining himself up with my entrance and thrusting in.

 "You're such a good little boy for me..." he groaned while continuing. I held back my disgust as he did his nails into my shoulders and reached his climax. He pulled out after and started getting clothes again.

 "You're forgetting something." He scoffed while I pulled my clothes back on, throwing a few crumpled twenties at me.

 "Prositutes. Think they deserve the world for just one time..." he grumbled while walking out. My dad came in and collected the stacks of money I collected throughout the night.

 "That was the last one for tonight. You did good, Joshua. I'm proud of you." He paid a hand in my shoulder before walking out of the basement. I followed him out and went up to my room, closing the door with teary eyes. Was this all I was worth to him? To anyone? I looked out the window and signed while staring up at the stars. After a while, I resigned myself to try and get some sleep.

      The next morning I ran late, so I had to take the bus. I walked out to the stop and got on, sitting somewhere isolated in the middle. A few stops later, someone sat down next to me.

 "I don't think I've seen you on the bus before..." Tyler's warm voice commented. I avoided looking at him and stared out the window.

 "I was running a little late today, so I couldn't make the walk." 

 "Are you okay?" I looked over at him and forced a smile.

 "Never better. Just a little tired 's all."

 "Good thing we're not doing a practice today." He chuckled slightly. I smiled weakly before staring back out the window.

 "Yeah..."

 "Listen, if you want to sleep instead of going to first, I know a good spot." I nodded, smiling over at him.

 "Sure. Where's that at?" His eyes widened slightly (probably from the bruises spread across my throat and any other marks) when he looked at me, but he didn't comment on it.

 "It's over by the bleachers. I'm gonna be over there today too, so I can show you. Besides, it'd be nice to not be there alone for once." He smiled and grabbed his bag when the bus stopped in front of school.

 "Okay, lead the way." I stood up, every muscle in my body aching in protest, before following him. We walked out to the bleachers and sat down. I stretched out on one, using my bag as a makeshift pillow. He sat down one row behind me and shuffled through his bag before pulling out a notebook. My eyes fluttered shut as I tried to sleep on the cold metal.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josh's *lovely* dad makes another appearance in this chapter, so be careful of that. I think he just deserves a warning of his own because he's not nice lol. Be safe guys :)

***Josh***

I woke up later to the bright light of the sun blinding me, and the feeling of someone's hands in my hair. I jumped up to see Tyler beside me, slightly startled.

 "Sorry! I-I didn't mean to scare you." I released a breath I didn't know I was holding through a sigh.

 "It's alright. Sorry if I scared you too." He smiled at me.

 "It's alright, I probably shouldn't have been- yeah. Anyways..." I stretched while sitting up.

 "What time is it?" His eyes went to my neck again.

 "It's about lunch time." His fingers ghosted the purple marks, sadness in his eyes. "What happened?" I shifted away.

 "I-um... fight. I got in a fight." He scoffed.

 "Greasers. The other guy wasn't that bad, right?" I sniggered, relieved he didn't see through the lie.

 "We were... evenly matched, so about the same damage. I got a few good hits in on his face though." He rolled his eyes.

 "Do me a favor, and stop fighting? It'll get you kicked off the team. And I don't like seeing you hurt." I nodded, fighting off the blush.

 "Alright, it's a deal." He smiled.

 "Good." We sat in stiff silence.

 "So should we go get lunch now?" He shrugged.

 "I usually go to the music room or something instead, but you can." I grabbed my bag.

 "Alright then. I'll see you later?"

 "Yeah, at the basketball courts. We'll  meet there."

 "Okay, see you there." 

      I walked into the lunchroom and sat in the back where Pete and Brendon were.

 "Hey, where's Gabe?" Brendon snorted.

 "Loverboy went and ditched us to sit with the track team."

 "At least now we don't have to hear him going on about his  _ 'mi amor'  _ all the damn time." Pete rolled his eyes.

 "Yeah, that's true. At least now he's going for it."

 "Yeah... which brings us to my question- who do you like?" Brendon chuckled.

 "I  _ know  _ you're just asking again because it's annoying, but for the millionth time- I don't like  _ anyone. _ I have no crushes here yet." Pete rolled his eyes.

 "Sure, and your throat isn't bruised from having a fun night."

 "It wasn't like that! I-I got in a fight." They both hollered.

 "Ooh, you badass! So you'd do the other guy in? Who was it?" Brendon eagerly asked.

 "I'm not sure who, but they were big, but... short. Crappy fighter though for being so buff- only about as good as me. We both left it pretty bad." Pete smiled while high-fiving me.

 "Nice! I think I know who you're talking about, and if I ever see him I'll give him hell for giving you hell." I smiled for the subject change.

 "Thanks, man."

 "You just have to come over to my place on Friday- I'm having another party and you  _ have _ to be there this time."

 "Alright, I'll be there." I groaned internally, not looking forward to what might happen there, but at least 'work' was closed on Fridays. We spent the rest of lunch time idly talking until the bell rang. I walked over to the bleachers and sat under then again, noticing Tyler there writing. I watched him for a while interested, his chocolate eyes zones out deep in thought. He'd occasionally tug at his hair or chew on the end of his pen while coming up with different ideas to scribble down in the notebook. I left just before the last bell rang and walked to the basketball courts. He walked up a few minutes after the bell, smiling. 

 "Hey."

 "'Hey' yourself, slowpoke." I smiled while he rolled his eyes.

 "Whatever, tough-guy. Are we gonna go or not? Cause I'd be more than happy to get a basketball." 

 "No, that's quite alright. Let's get going." We walked over to the soda shop he was talking about and sat down in one of the booths. Our orders came soon after the waitress took them and we sat in silence.

 "So Josh, how was your day?" I shrugged, taking a sip from the mug of hot coffee. "Okay, your week?"

 "Some good, some bad. Good was we get to hang out." I smiled.

 "And the bad?" I shrugged, my smile faltering.

 "It was... bad." Another silence fell over us.

 "You know you can talk to me, right? About anything. I'll be here to listen." He smiled.

 "I'm here for you too, Ty." I smiled back while his grin grew.

 "'Ty'?" I rolled my eyes while huffing.

 "It's a nickname that I just made up."

 "I wasn't saying I don't like it."

 "So you do like it?" He shrugged.

 "I'm stuck with it either way, so might as well like it. Besides, it's less enjoyable for you if I do like it." I chuckled. 

 "Aw, you're ruining my fun!" He giggled.

 "Are you gonna cry about it?"

 "No! Not now..." He laughed some more.

 "'Now'? So you're going to later?"

 "I didn't say that!"

 "But you implied it." He looked up at me smugly while I huffed.

 "Whatever. I'm still not going to cry about it..." He laughed.

 "Okay then, whatever you say." I rolled my eyes and smiled. We continued talking until it got late. After bickering about it for a good while, he decided on walking me home.

 "So what's your family like? I didn't get to really meet them before at the barbeque."

 "They're n-nice. My mom's really caring, and my dad's really good at work, because he wants me and my siblings to have nice things, and be able to go to college." He nodded.

 "What kind of job does he have?" I shrugged, becoming way more tense.

 "U-Um, I'm not sure, he doesn't t-talk about it..."

 "Oh. Okay." We walked in silence for a while longer before we stopped a few houses down.

 "Here is good."

 "But isn't your house down there?"

 "It's fine, I'll walk the rest of the way. I'll see you tomorrow for practice." I smiled, unsure of why he was just standing there. He quickly hugged me and smiled before walking off.

 "See you then!" I started walking back, feeling completely exhilarated. Was that normal to happen after a hug. I walked in to see my dad passed out already, and my mom cleaning up.

 "Hey sweetheart, did you have a good day?" I shrugged.

 "Yeah, I guess." Her smile faded into sympathy as she cleared countless bottles away.

 "Your father worked late tonight, so let him sleep." I nodded.

 "I suppose he wants me to make sure I get my homework done downstairs too?"

 "He said the tutor is down there waiting, so yes. You hurry down there, mister. Don't want you to fall behind." She smiled playfully while getting the rest of the front room cleaned up. If only she knew what 'tutor' actually meant, maybe things would be different. Maybe.

      I woke up the next morning (after a long night) and started getting ready when someone knocked softly on the door.

 "Yeah?" I acknowledged them while getting my bag. My dad walked in.

 "Hey, Joshua?"

 "Josh, i-it's just Josh..."

 "Right. Listen, you did good last night. I didn't even have to ask you." he chuckled. "Anyway, I just wanted you to know how proud I am. You're going to be a great provider for a family when you're older, because you're doing so good now." He smiled, messing my hair up. I smiled weakly.

 "Thanks, dad."

 "How about you and me go out later today and do something?" My smile faltered.

 "I can't, I've got basketball training." He nodded.

 "Okay. Good, yeah. Extracurricular activities, right. We'll do something Saturday then, okay?" He started walking out.

 "Okay." I got my bag and left after getting my lunch from my mom, starting my walk to school. 

      I got to school late and sat down under the bleachers again, as had become usual. Tyler showed up soon after and pulled out his worn notebook and started writing. I watched in admiration as he created new ideas and wrote them down, occasionally saying them out loud, and  _ singing _ them. His voice was very rich and beautiful, leaving me wanting more. He didn't sing as much as I would've liked, but I still got a taste of his voice whenever he hummed, and it was something I could never get enough of. I smiled as he read off another idea.

 "A brave man said, 'You put a name to a song, and it won't change no matter what goes wrong.' I'll try my best to find a face and a name. I'll sing until we both are one in the same. I don't know what I should give, or what I'm to sing. All I can do is give you this, and let my heart play. I know your face. Let this song whisper your name."

 "Wow, that's incredible..." I smiled, forgetting he didn't know I was here, and that he probably didn't want me to know that. He jumped back and shoved the notebook back in his bag quickly.

 "W-Who said that? Who's there?" I muttered to myself in annoyance, trying to come up with something.

 "Your... self-confidence? You're doing good, Tyler, I believe in you!" He scoffed, looking around. 

 "Okay then, 'self-confidence'. Why have you been watching me for the last few days?"

 "I've always been watching you. You're just now noticing me because I'm so happy about what you're working on." He rolled his eyes before walking down.

 "Right. I'll see you here later then, because I'm coming to class. Maybe you should go too, so we don't fail." Sarcasm stopped off his voice as he walked off. I sighed in relief and stayed there a while longer before leaving at lunch.

      "Hey- you're going to my party, right?" Pete asked, oddly by himself today.

 "Yeah? I already said-"

 "Good. Bring someone with you because Brendon fucking went and got a boyfriend and he won't stop rubbing it in." I laughed slightly.

 "Is someone jealous that they're still single?" He snorted.

 "Are you? Cause I'm sure as hell not single! He just doesn't want to be involved with my reputation around here, so we've been keeping it under wraps." I nodded.

 "So who is he?"

 " _ That part _ I'm not sharing. For his sake, y'know? I don't wanna get him mad, he's too happy to see mad..." He smiled sweetly. I smiled along.

 "Fair enough."

 "So, who you bringing?" 

 "I don't know yet, but I have an idea." He looked over at me.

 "Who?" I shrugged.

 "Whoever says yes later in the parking lot." He laughed.

 "Just make sure they're single, because that could get fucked up real fast." 

 "Alright, I will. Thanks for the advice." He nodded. We continued talking until the bell rang, and then I went under the bleachers again, happy to see Tyler there again.

 "Is that you, self-confidence?" He mocked. I sighed frustrated.

 "Yes, tis I." I replied, my voice stiff.

 "Great! Why don't you come out here so that I can show you what I've written?" I couldn't see it, but I could just  _ feel _ the smug look on his face.

 "I've already seen it. I'm a little voice in your head, duh."

 "Oh really? Then why does it sound like you're underneath me?"

 "Sound... displacement..." He scoffed.

 "Yeah, right." 

 "You don't believe me?" He shook his head, smiling down at me smugly.

 "Nope." 

 "Then why don't you come down here, and see if you're right?"

 "No... I'm gonna not do that. I like my secret admirers to remain secret. And for all I know you could just be pranking me and  _ want _ me to go down there."

 "That's a good point... I'm not pranking you, if that's what you think." His smile faded.

 "Yeah? I've been pranked too recently by someone I really thought better of to take that chance." My heart sank. He was still mad about that? Was he acting this whole time then?"

 "Josh... You know, you shouldn't hold on to that. He did say he was sorry. And besides, you're taking that too hard- it makes me weaker." I pleaded to whatever forces at be that I was convincing, thankful when his smile returned slightly.

 "Yeah. That's not why I'm mad at him though." Wait he's  _ mad  _ at me? I didn't even do anything!

 "And why are you mad?"

 "Well, mad isn't the right word- confused, that's better. Not the right word, but better than mad." 

 "Then why are you confused?" He snorted.

 "For a voice in my head, I thought you'd know all of my thoughts." 

 "Well, you block me out sometimes with that other guy, doubt. Try letting me in sometime." His eyes widened.

 "Okay, now you're freaking me out. This joke is going a little far, don't you think?" I held back my laughter.

 "What do you mean? Do I know you much? Or just enough to prove myself correct?" He shook his head.

 "I-um... alright, fine. You win. I'm gonna write now, so just stay low, and give feedback?" I smiled.

 "Of course. I'm here for you, after all." I saw a small smile spread across his lips as he pulled his notebook out.

 "Okay."

      After school, I met Tyler at the basketball courts a few minutes later than usual.

 "Who's the slowpoke today?" He smiled while I rolled my eyes.

 "Ever hear of a bathroom break? My last class is really strict about it, so I had to wait."

 "That's funny, because we have the same period before and I didn't see you." He smiled smugly. I returned it with a smirk.

 "It  _ is _ funny, since I didn't see you either." His smile faded.

 "Okay, you start today then. We'll  see if that big mouth does you any good on the court." 

 "You're on." I smirked and started running immediately, managing to get past him and shoot it, the ball bouncing off the rim and towards him. He caught it and ran off with it before shooting, the ball making it in perfectly. He passed me the ball, but it was intercepted by someone- Brendon.

 "Hey, Josh! I didn't know you were into basketball!" He smiled before handing the ball back to Tyler.

 "Not really, just starting." He nodded, looking at Tyler.

 "Hey, I just wanted to thank you for being cool about earlier. And if you're hanging with Josh and happen to find out who fucked his neck up, come talk to me. We'll fuck that asshole up!" He smiled before walking off towards someone else, holding his hand.

 "That went... better than I thought." I commented, getting the ball from him.

 "Yeah, that was weird. I thought he was gonna kick my ass!" He laughed slightly. I smiled before whistling at him and the other guy.

 "Yeah, get some! Maybe now you'll get off me about it." He turned around and flipped me off.

 "Fuck you! I'm still hooking you up with someone later!"

 "I think that's  _ his _ job to fuck you, not mine!" I laughed as he flipped me off again before walking away very flustered. 

 "Are we gonna continue, or are you going to annoy more people?" Tyler sighed while I rolled my eyes.

 "We can continue, because I'll be doing both by annoying you with how good I am." He scoffed.

 "You missed your last shot."

 "It's just one shot, I can always make more after and improve based off each time I miss. It's why we're practicing- to get better."

 "Yeah..." He smiled at me while I started running again, avoiding his blocks and making another shot that made it in.

 "Nice one." I smiled while passing the ball.

 "Thanks. Maybe I'll beat you today." He chuckled.

 "Yeah, and I'm king of the world." I glared playfully while he fake pouted.

 "It could happen you know..." He giggled (because there's no other words to describe his laughter that isn't fucking  _ gorgeous _ ) before starting to run off again.

 "I guess so." I ran after him and swiped the ball away before running off and making another shot that fell right in.

 "See? Never say never or else you look like an asshole." He snorted and rolled his eyes.

 "Whatever. I'm totally going to beat you now." 

 "What, were you holding back before?" He scoffed.

 "No! Just didn't want you to lose hopelessly." I rolled my eyes.

 "Well stop that. No more holding back." He smiled eagerly.

 "Alright, let's see how good you really are against me."

 "We already have. Now we're just seeing how much better I've gotten." He rolled his eyes.

 "Just start playing!" I chuckled.

 "I don't have the ball, so you start playing." He huffed and started again.

      After hours of running around, we stopped because it got dark out. We walked over to my house again because, once again, Tyler was determined to walk me home.

 "Why can't I walk you to your house for once?" I broke the silence between us.

 "Because I want to make sure you get home safely."

 "And I can't do the same for you? We're friends, so that means  _ together _ , as in we both look out for eachother."

 "But I'm not the one getting in fights when I'm by myself. Besides, if anyone comes at you again we have strength in numbers." I scoffed.

 "Oh yes- a really scrawny beanpole, and me. We'd definitely win that one." I rolled my eyes.

 "Are you trying to say something about my size?" He said, fake offense lining his voice.

 "Not at all, just saying if I had to choose between a really tough guy and you to win a fight, my money would be well spent with the first option."

 "Hey! I'll have you know that I can handle a lot more than you give me credit for!"

 "Oh yeah- like what?" 

 "Well I- one time I was at this party, and then must've thought I was someone else to do this, but I drank an entire keg of beer." I choked on air.

 "That was you!?"

 "You knew about that already?" He sounded disappointed that I did.

 "Yeah, Pete told me. He's been trying to find out who it was. You're the first guy in, like, ever to outdrink Brendon."

 "And he drinks a lot?" I snorted.

 "Yeah, he drinks a lot. That makes this easier then."

 "Makes what easier?"

 "Asking you to go with me to a party tomorrow night." He scoffed.

 "Oh no- I'm not doing that again.  _ Ever. _ "

 "I'm not asking you to get drunk, I'm just asking you to go with me. Please?" He glared at me before rolling his eyes.

 "Fine... there better be something else to drink other than beer though." I smiled before squeezing him tightly.

 "Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll bring some water especially for you!" He smiled back, blushing slightly in the moonlight (but probably a lot more if it was brighter out).

 "You're welcome? I've never seen someone so happy to have me go somewhere with them."

 "Well why not? You're pretty cool." He rolled his eyes.

 "You might not realize this, but according to most people at school I'm a nerd." I scoffed.

 "You're nerdy? Compared to me, I don't think so."

 "You're not nerdy, you're a tough guy! You get in fights and hang out with the greasers." We stopped down the street from my house.

 "Remind me next time I see you to prove how much nerdier I am than you think. See you tomorrow!" He smiled softly and waved while walking away.

 "Yeah, see you." I smiled back while walking into my house. 

       My dad stood in the doorway , a half-empty bottle in his hand.

 "What the hell's got you so happy?" My smile faded as fear took place of happiness.

 "N-Nothing, just how much I-" He smashed the bottle against the side of my head, not hard enough to pass out but enough to hurt and get cut by the broken glass on the side of my forehead.

 "You're fucking late again! Can't you do anything right!?" I steadied myself and wiped the blood away.

 "I-I guess not."

 "Well you fucking guessed right." He took another swig from a bottle he picked up off the table. "Get to work, we have people waiting." I sighed and walked down to the basement, my head ducked low to avoid any more blows he might give.

      Hours past until there were no more 'clients' left. I took the opportunity after the last one there left to take a shower and go to bed before anyone else would come. I looked out at the stars, watching for anything at all. Per usual, nothing came to my disappointment.

 "I knew we should've moved to New Mexico..." I muttered to myself before getting in bed and trying to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And this chapters warnings are: underage drinking (again), smut (actual smut). Please be safe guys :)

***Josh***  


The night passed quickly into morning, and even sooner I was at school again. I went under the bleachers and sat there trying not to fall asleep while waiting. Right on schedule, Tyler walked up and sat down with his notebook out.

 "Are you gonna write more awesome stuff?" I smiled slightly. His face lit up slightly.

 "Nice to see you too. Maybe not awesome, but I am writing. I'm almost done with this project." I moved closer with interest.

 "Can I hear it?"

 "Sure, I'll show it to you. Just come out here." I chuckled.

 "Did you forget I'm a voice in your head? The tiny one that tells you when you're doing something good."

 "Oh, well then you must already know it." He smirked.

 "No, I went to bed early last night." He rolled his eyes.

 "Of course you did."

 "Uh, duh! I need to be well rested to encourage you." He huffed.

 "Alright, here goes then." He tore a paper out and passed it down to me. I read the lines he wrote, reciting a few closer to the bottom.

 "'The old man sits all by himself, and thinks of better years. When he used to believe in stars, and would dream away his fears. The young boy moves so fast he doesn’t see the stars above. And all his dreams are crushed by old man, who didn’t dream enough. We must all agree, there’s a point in life when darkness breaks our brittle hopes and dreams. And I’d say- it must be tonight.' I-wow. You've got talent..." I passed the paper back up to him, smiling.

 "Thanks." He replied quietly, his face glowing red.

 "You're a great poet."

 "They're songs, actually."

 "Oh. Then you're a good songwriter." I chuckled slightly. "Can I hear how it goes?"

 "What?"

 "Can I hear the melody? If it's a song, it's got a melody." 

 "No one usually asks about that... they just complain how 'dark' or 'depressing' it is."

 "It is dark. But I think it's also beautiful- it's a great representation of different mindsetsin different ages. We're trying to just get through everything and get successful, and end up missing the little things along the way. The older people are angered by it, because what they remember best is the little things- love, happiness, funny misadventures- not how much money they made or what job they had that made them money." He stared wide-eyed.

 "Yeah... yeah- exactly." He smiled. "You got it."

 "It's not that hard to get. You said what you were trying to in the song." His smile grew.

 "Exactly!"

 "So can I hear the melody?" He laughed slightly.

 "Alright, just because you actually looked past face-value for it." He began to sing the words softly, a gentle flow in his voice as he recited them.

 "You're really talented, man. You should do this stuff for a living- like Elvis or something. It'd be better than that pop stuff that plays." He smiled widely.

 "You really think so?"

 "I do, but it's just my job to encourage you, so you probably don't believe me." He laughed.

 "No, I really believe you." I smiled.

 "Good. I can't be the only one thinking positively here, can I?" 

 "You have been for a while... I think that's changing now though."

 "Oh? How's that?"

 "Josh. He's- he's something else. I feel like he's actually there for me, like he says it and means it- not like some of my other friends. Don't get me wrong, Jenna's a good friend, but I feel sometimes I'm just there for her to talk about her problems with. Which I don't mind, I guess..." I blushed while reaching out.

 "Well hey- you've got me, and you have Josh. We'll both be here for you." He smiled.

 "Thanks." The bell rang and he sighed.

 "We better get going. It's lunchtime already, after all." I smiled.

 "You go on ahead. I'll catch up." He nodded and walked away.

      I walked up to our usual table in the back to see it empty, except for a note.

_ 'Sorry Josh- boyfriend wanted to take me out.'  _ I sighed and walked away, thinking of something else to do. I passed by an empty wing and found Tyler sitting cross-legged inside one of the hallways. I smiled and sat down beside him. 

 "Hey." He looked up and shifted slightly so his notebook was out of view.

 "What are you doing here?"

 "I can't say hi to my friends?" He smiled slightly.

 "Fair enough. You got ditched, didn't you?"

 "Well... it's not easy being the only single guy in the group." He nodded.

 "Yeah... Jenna has cheerleading, and Dallon-" he stopped.

 "He's got a girlfriend?"

 "Well- not exactly."

 "A boyfriend then?" He nodded.

 "Yeah... I wasn't supposed to tell anyone though, okay? So you don't know." I laughed slightly. 

 "Alright, Dallon is just missing then."

 "Sure." He smiled bemused.

 "So what's that?" I moved a little closer to look at his notebook. He shifted away again.

 "Homework." I nodded.

 "You're doing that now?"

 "Why not? It gets it out of the way sooner." 

 "True." He put the notebook away after finishing writing and smiled.

 "Sue me doing homework now makes me a nerd. But what makes you a nerd?"

 "Oh yeah, from yesterday."

 "Yep. So how are you nerdy?" He smiled.

 "Have you ever heard about Roswell, New Mexico?"

 "No? The name is familiar, but I don't know where from."

 "Well like twenty years ago, there was this whole thing with a 'weather balloon' crashing, but I among many others know what it actually was."

 "A weather balloon?" He asked, his tone disinterested.

 "No! That's a lie! They're trying to hide the aliens, it's totally like something that'd be on The Twilight Zone!" He scoffed.

 "'Aliens?'"

 "Yeah. The government is covering it up, but I'm sure they kept the space ship and anyone on board it in Roswell. Besides, it was right by Area 51- giving the government perfect access to keeping it secret." He rolled his eyes.

 "Alright, sure. What if there  _ are _ aliens then? What does that mean?"

 "It means there more lifeforms out in space, more planets- there would be so much to see!" 

 "There's already so much to see here though." 

 "Yeah, that we have pictures of. We don't have  _ anything  _ on other planets or people. For all we know, there could be another human race on another planet, with more technology. Maybe they're like the Jetsons..." He giggled.

 "The cartoon?" 

 "Yeah- they're 'the family of the future', but what if they're actually aliens with advanced technology?" 

 "I don't know, Jishwa. Sounds like something you'd have to travel to in order to find out." I giggled slightly from the nickname  


 "Maybe. We could be like Star Trek- with Kirk and Spock on the Starship Enterprise, voyaging through space."

 "So basically you want a rocket ship to fly far away on?" I shrugged.

 "I'm not good enough at math to be with NASA and go to the moon, but maybe it could be a project out of my backyard. I'd take you with me of course, if you wanted to go."

 "That sounds really nerdy. Sign me up." We laughed before sharing a smile. The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch. He stood up and grabbed his bag.

 "Thanks for hanging with me today. You can whenever you want, you know. I'm usually over here, by myself." I chuckled while getting up.

 "Is this your way of asking me to come over here?"

 "Maybe... we can plan blueprints for your rocket, or something." I smiled.

 "Yeah. That'd be so cool!" He laughed slightly.

 "See you around then." He walked off.

 "See you." I walked to my next class and sat in the back, doodling rockets all over my notes.

      After the class ended, I walked to the bleachers and sat under them, seeing Tyler already there.

 "You're late."

 "Sorry, I was in class."

 "Ha! I knew you weren't some voice in my head!" I rolled my eyes.

 "Yeah, yeah. So do you have any new ideas?" He shrugged.

 "I have one, but it's just the bridge. I'll probably finish it later."

 "Cool. I bet it's great." 

 "Yeah." He continued scribbling in his notebook while I continued a doodle I started.

 "You're awfully quiet this time." He commented after a while. I shrugged.

 "Just letting you think. You can't create genius ideas of you're constantly having to talk to me."

 "I guess that's true. Do you make any kind of music or other art?"

 "I draw a bit, and I used to play drums. I had to stop though, because they were too loud for my parent's liking. And my dad got his new job around then, and I help out with that." I sighed slightly and continued doodling.

 "So like an apprenticeship?"

 "Y-Yeah, something like that." He changed the subject after, sensing my discomfort.

 "You know you can sit up here, right? I don't bite." I smiled slightly.

 "I don't know, I kinda like talking to you without you knowing who I am. Makes it easier for both of us not to judge the other." 

 "Yeah, but I wanna know who I'm trusting."

 "Why? Isn't it easier to just trust me without knowing? I'm not telling anyone about this, nor do I plan on it, if that's what you're asking." He sighed.

 "Alright. I'm gonna find out who you are though. Sooner or later." 

 "Sounds like you have your work cut out for you then." He laughed slightly.

 "What, are you some kind of spooky enigma?" I made my voice sound deeper.

 "Indeed. They call me... Jim." He laughed.

 "'Spooky Jim'. At least now I have something to call you by." I smiled.

 "Yeah." We sat in silence for a while again, each of us working on something.

 "Can I ask you something?"

 "Sure- ask me anything."

 "It's more like I need advice. Say you like someone- and you do but don't know then we'll enough to talk personally, and you feel like they're hiding something important. How would you ask them about it?"

 "I don't really know, what do you think they're hiding?"

 "I don't really know, it's just when I walk with them at night and we go by their house, they just get tense, and it gives me a bad feeling."

 "You're worried something's wrong at home?"

 "Yeah I think- I think they might be getting abused." 

 "What do you have to base it off of? If it's something serious like that, you want to make sure there's proof so that you don't upset them if you're wrong."

 "Yeah, that's true. One day we were practicing together, and they weren't running right, like their back or something got really messed up. And then a few days after, they came to practice with bruises like they'd been choked. They said it was just fight, and that's what got me worried. Like if something's wrong, why can't they talk to me about it? Do they not trust me?"

 "They might not want you to get caught up in it- they could just be looking out for you." He sighed.

 "Yeah, but I just- I wish he'd talk to me, because I really do care. And he's my friend, so it's normal for me to be worried. Right?"  _ Me? _ He thinks I'm being abused at home? Does that count as abuse? The last part really caught my attention though, because it sounded like he was trying to confirm- or deny- something.

 "I don't really know how to get him to open up to you about it immediately, but start bringing it up subtlely in conversation, see if you can start other conversation about it. And if anything, just give him time. It might be hard to talk about for him."

 "Yeah... I just don't want to wait too long though, because it could get worse somehow. It always does..."

 "If it starts getting worse, than ask him about it directly." I saw him nod.

 "Yeah, okay." I placed my hand reassuringly where his rested on the bleachers.

 "It'll be okay, just talk to him." He smiled slightly.

 "Okay. He wanted me to go to some kind of party with him tonight, so maybe I can ask him there."

 "I don't recommend that. It'll be loud and crowded, so he might feel cornered. Do it somewhere quiet, where he'll be comfortable." He smiled.

 "Okay. That gives me an idea. Thanks." I smiled.

 "Glad I could help." We continued what we were doing in silence until the bell rang.

 "See you- or talk to you, rather- later, spooky." He smiled before walking off. I smiled along and walked over to the basketball courts, getting there right as he did.

 "Hey."

 "Hi. Thanks again for agreeing to come with me later. I got a few bottles of water in my bag just for you." He smiled.

 "Thanks. Why don't we take the day off today? Can't go to a party exhausted, right?" I raised my eyebrow.

 "Okay?"

 "Let's go over to the soda shop, I'm buying."

 "Alright..." I followed him there, already knowing what was going to happen. We sat down in a booth by the window and ordered. After our drinks came, he started talking.

 "So how was your day? I shrugged.

 "Other than when I was hanging out with you, only decent." He laughed slightly.

 "I feel honored."

 "You should, because I was hanging out with you a lot today. It was a good day." He smiled. I smiled back before turning to look out the window at all the people passing by. He gasped softly before touching the side of my head. I flinched, since it was still sore from before.

 "What happened?"

 "Oh, that? It's nothing- skateboarding accident."

 "Josh?"

 "Yeah?" I swallowed hard.

 "They park closes at five. I was walking you home at seven..."

 "Oh I was... I was going around the block. The sidewalk gets uneven at some parts."

 "Are you hiding something from me?"

 "What- no! I'm not hiding anything, why would be hiding something?" I met his concerned gaze across the table before looking down again, guilt plummeting inside of me as my anxiety skyrocketed.

 "Josh,  _ please _ talk to me. I wanna be here to help you, but I can't if I don't know what's going on."

 "Alright... I wasn't skateboarding." He nodded, waiting for me to continue.

 "I-I don't really want to talk about this..." 

 "Okay, not yet. We'll work up to it." He smiled, hurt hiding in his eyes.

"I do though! I-I want to tell you about it, but I feel like I shouldn't, like it could get worse." He nodded.

 "Okay, then like I said- we'll work up to it. I really don't mind, I just want to make sure you're okay." I smiled softly.

 "Alright then." He smiled back, reaching across the table to grab my hand reassuringly.

 "Just know I'm here for you to talk to- whether it's about whatever's going on now, or anything else. I really mean that."

 "Okay." My smile grew slightly. He moved his hand away and stood up.

 "We should get going, so we're not late." I nodded and followed him.

***Tyler***  


      The same feelings from last time went over me as we walked up to the house the party was at-  _ Pete's  _ house. 

 "You ready?" Josh smiled at me.

 "Yeah. Let's go now before I change my mind." I laughed slightly.

 "I doubt it'll be that bad." I followed him in.

 "You weren't here last time..." He pulled a water out of his bag and handed it to me before grabbing a drink.

 "You're sure you don't want any?" I shook my head.

 "No, I'm good." He shrugged before downing it.

 "I see why- this stuff's crap." He chuckled while finishing the cup.

 "Hey! You made it!" Pete walked (staggered) over.

 "Yeah, I did. Couldn't you get beer that didn't taste like shit?"

 "Yeah, but that shit's expensive for a lot!"

 "That's true. But seriously- this tastes so bad. I'm only drinking it so you don't feel bad." Pete scoffed while rolling his eyes.

 "You're doing a great fucking job at that. Tellin' me my beer is crap... hey, who's your friend?" He looked over at me.

 "This is Tyler. He's actually pretty cool. Said he's drank an entire keg before." He smiled.

 "Oh, I remember you! Damn, how does someone so scrawny like you out drink Brendon!? That was fucking awesome though. You want a beer?" I shook my head, clutching onto my water. 

 "Not this time. Thanks though." He shrugged.

 "Whatever. Fuckin' snobs..." He walked away while chugging the rest of his cup.

 "See? This isn't that bad." Josh smiled while taking another drink. "Come on,  let's get out of the doorway."

 "Not yet..." I muttered to myself while following him in. Halfway in, he was dragged away by Brendon and another greaser.

 "Come on, man! We gotta hook you up!" I heard them call after him as he tried to move away. I walked over and sat in the kitchen and watched the party going on while sipping my water. I say there for a while before he came back, obviously wasted now.

 "He... Hey Tyler!" He attempted to sit down by me.

 "Hey." I laughed slightly while he fell on his butt.

 "Why you all by yourself?" He slurred while taking another sip.

 "I don't know, just kinda like watching."

 "Watching the people?"

 "Yeah." He stumbled back into his feet and moved to the chair beside me.

 "You want a drink?" He offered me the empty cup he was holding. I laughed.

 "No thanks. Besides, that one's empty." He looked in it before getting up.

 "I'm gonna go get another, you want one?" I pulled him back by the wrist and sat him back down.

 "No, I think you've had enough. Can't have you getting sick." He groaned.

 "What, I haven't had a lot! Just like... like a few!" 

 "Doesn't matter. I'd rather the person who dragged me here to not puke on me too." He laughed slightly.

 "Fair enough." He moved closer, shoving his face by mine.

 "What are you doing?" He continued crawling into my lap.

 "You have pretty eyes."

 "Thanks?" I laughed nervously as my face flushed.

 "You're blushing!" He giggled while poking my cheek.

 "No I'm not! You're just drunk!" I giggled along softly.

 " _ No, _ you're blushing. I can see it, don't lie." I blushed harder.

 "O-Okay..." He smiled.

 "Good. You're adorable when you blush. Like, really cute. Even cuter than you already are."

 "Josh?"

 "Hm?" He rested his head on my heart and curled into my chest.

 "What are you doing?"

 

 "You're comfortable."

 "Okay? That wasn't what I meant though." He looked up at me.

 "What did you mean then?"

 "What are you doing? When you're calling me cute, and saying I have pretty eyes."

 "What, I can't compliment you?" He stared thoughtfully. "Are you gay?"

 "What?"

 "Are. You. Gay?" He punctuated each word with a poke to my chest.

 "No! I-I don't think so, at least. Besides, isn't that bad?" He smirked and moved closer, his lips by my ear.

 "Wanna find out?" He pressed his lips to my cheek.

 "How do I find out?" He licked his lips.

 "I'll show you how." He pressed his lips to mine and wrapped his arms around my neck. 

 "Josh, you're dr-" One of his hands moved up my neck and tangled in my hair while the other one moved down my torso and slid under my shirt. I moaned involuntarily as he pressed closer.

 "Should we go somewhere else?" I whispered against his lips, afraid of ruining the moment. He pullled away and grabbed my hand.

 "Probably. C'mon." He pulled me along as we went into an empty room. The moment the door was shut his lips were on mine again. He licked and nipped at my lip while pulling my shirt off. I moved my hands down to his hips. He moaned while rolling his hips into my crotch.

 "Oh- fuck!" He giggled slightly.

 "Did you just swear?" He bucked his hips, causing me to groan.

 "Yes, I did. Because you keep fucking doing-  _ that _ !" He palmed my crotch.

 "Hm. You have such bad language, I don't know if I want to do this anymore..." He moved away and walked towards the door. I grabbed him before he could open it and pulled him closer.

 "Josh! It's not polite to lead people on!" I purred before kissing his neck. He moaned softly as I kept my kisses tender before biting down.

 "Ah! Fuck!"

 "And I have bad language." I continued kissing and sucking marks at the crook of his neck as his hands left my hips and towards his pants. I pulled them back and laced them together with mine.

 "Tyler!" He whined.

 "No touching. I'll- uh, do that..." He laughed.

 "You've never had sex with another guy, have you?" I looked up at him.

 "I'm a seventeen year old in a Christian family and haven't even had a girlfriend before. What do you think?" He chuckled while undoing the button on my pants.

 "Then allow me." He pulled them down to my ankles, leaving me in my underpants.

 "I don't think it's fair I'm practically naked while you're still fully clothed. We should do something about that." He huffed before throwing his shirt aside and taking his pants and underwear off.

 "There. Happy?" I nodded, taking in his body.

 "You're beautiful, you know." He scoffed before dropping to his knees.

 "Yeah. You're gay, alright." He pulled my underwear down and stared wide-eyed at my erect cock.

 "What are you doing?" He ran his thumb down the shaft, causing me to shudder.

 "Admiring you." He locked eyes with me while wrapping his lips around the tip. My breath hitched as he swirled his tongue across the tip and slid it down as he took more in.

 "Oh my God, Josh. F-Fuck." He smirked devilishly with his eyes while taking my entire length in. I ran my fingers through his frizzy hair as he bobbed his head before moving so I was in the back of his throat.

 "Fuck,  _ moremoremore _ ..." I groaned as he gagged around me. I tugged on his hair and pulled him closer. He choked before pulling off with a 'pop' as his lips moved off. 

 "You want more?" He asked, his voice dripping with lust.

 "God, yes!" He laughed slightly.

 "Look at you, using the Lord's name in vain. I think you're moving to the dark side." He sat me down on the bed and moved me into his lap as my face flushed. He moved my legs around his neck as his hands trailed down my chest and past my hips while keeping eye contact with me. I squirmed as he moved lower, yelping when he grabbed my butt.

 "What are you doing?"

 "Giving you what you want." He moved one of his fingers inside me, moving it around. I screamed loudly, squeezing my eyes shut.

 "Josh! Hurts!" He pressed soft kisses against my collarbone.

 "Its okay, it won't for much longer, I promise." He slid another finger in and started scissoring them. I relaxed as the pain subsided, moaning as he continued.

 "Josh-"

 "Open your eyes." He pressed more kisses along my neck, moving up to my ear. I pried my eyes open as he nibbled on my ear lobe. 

 "So does this-"

 "Are you ready for more?" His voice deepened as he whispered in my ear. I nodded as he pulled his fingers out.

 "I don't think that's-" 

 "Shh. Just trust me, okay?" He kissed the swollen head of my cock and continued onto my tummy as he thrusted his dick inside me.

 "Ngghh!" My nails dug into his shoulders as he moved further in.

 "Are you alright?"

 "Y-Yeah, keep going." He kissed my torso as he kept a steady rhythm in his thrusts. A warm pressure built up in the bottom of my abdomen.

 "J-Josh-" He smiled while slowing down.

 "Not yet, just a little longer." He wrapped his legs tighter around me, moving in closer. When he thrusted in again, I saw stars.

 "Ah! Josh!" He continued thrusting in, sucking a mark on my stomach as I moaned and screamed.

 "Are you still close?" I nodded.

 "M-Mhm." He wrapped a hand around me and started pumping.

 "Cum for me, baby." My head rolled back as I screamed, white streams of cum spewing onto him . Josh cummed after inside of me, moaning as he pulled out. 

 "I think I'm gay..." I panted as he laughed slightly.

 "Yeah?"

 "If enjoying that makes me gay, then I'm definitely gay." He giggled while getting our clothes.

 "Glad you liked it." He turned pale while gagging.

 "Josh?" He ran straight for a trash can inside the room and started puking into it. I rubbed his back while he did, trying to ignore the gross smell.

 "Ugh, I can't go home like this..."

 "You can come over to mine. We can say it's heat exhaustion from practice, and you can spend the night. We've got plenty of aspirin at home. He nodded.

 "Okay, yeah." I helped him to his feet while putting our clothes back on. After we walked back out and left the house.

 "My house is just down the street a little ways, so it's not a long walk." He nodded.

 "Mine's over by here too." I chuckled.

 "I know. I've walked you home before."

 "Oh." I smiled and walked the rest of the way in silence. 

      When we got to my house, I saw my parents sitting in the front room.

 "Where were you? It's been  _ hours,  _ Tyler!"

 "Sorry, we were practicing a little longer than we thought I guess. And then Josh wasn't feeling well, so I was hoping he could stay here since it's closer." My mom walked over and placed her hand in Josh's forehead.

 "Oh, he's a little warm. Is it heat exhaustion?" I shrugged.

 "Maybe, it was kind of hot out." She went into the kitchen and came back with a cool washcloth.

 "Here, lay on the couch. You boys work too hard, I've always said so." She placed it on his forehead after he laid down.

 "Do we have a bucket, or something like that? He was puking earlier." My dad pointed by the stairs.

 "The closet underneath." I nodded and went over to get it, setting it down by him.

 "Just in case." He smiled slightly, his eyes closed.

 "You just lay here for a while, and stay here until you feel better okay? I'll make a nice breakfast in the morning to help you recover." My mom smiled slightly before glaring at me.

 "What did I do!?"

 "You overworked him, that's what."

 "Yes, but they have to work hard. Besides, now that he's been overworked, the only thing he can do now is improve. It's just one step closer to being a good player. But you do need to be careful, understand?" I sighed dejectedly.

 "Yeah." 

 "Good. It's late, so why don't you get to bed?" My mom kissed my cheek before I went upstairs, taking one last look at Josh before going to my room and getting ready for bed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aaand I've finally caught up to where I was before this got deleted by mistake! YAY!!! Now I can put today's chapter up and call it good :) This chapter doesn't really have any major triggers, but there is still a bit of like self- doubt/ depression stuff from Tyler, and implied abuse from Josh. Be safe guys and enjoy!

***Tyler***

The next morning, I woke up and went downstairs for breakfast. Another chair was pulled up to where I usually sit, Josh sitting there eating a stack of pancakes. I sat down beside him.

 "Are you feeling better?"

 "Yeah, a lot better. Thank you so much for letting me stay here for the night."

 "It's no trouble. I'm just glad to see you better." My mom smiled while dishing out more food.

 "I'm really sorry about that, we probably should've stopped sooner."

 "Its alright, I was doing really good, so I didn't want to stop yet." He smiled while eating, winking after his reply. I smiled back and started eating. Once we finished, I decided to walk Josh home.

 "Your mom's a really good cook." I chuckled.

 "Thanks."

 "I didn't do anything really embarrassing, right?" Wait, he didn't remember? He must've been a lot drunker than I thought.

 "No, I made sure you didn't."

 "See, I knew I was right for bringing you along! Someone I enjoy talking to,  _ and _ someone who'd help look out for me. Thanks."

 "No problem, what are friends for?" I smiled slightly. I was in too deep now. And I couldn't tell him because it could ruin our friendship.

 "What are you thinking about?"

 "What?"

 "You seemed lost." He stopped walking once we got to where we usually stopped.

 "Yeah, I guess that's one way to put it."

 "What are you lost about?" I shrugged.

 "I don't really know, I'm just that lost." He laughed slightly.

 "Well, when you figure it out, I'll help find you." He hugged me before walking off.

 "See you around!" I waved before walking off. I smiled to myself while walking back.

      The next time I saw Josh was at church on Sunday morning. He had a white dress shirt with black tie on while sitting by his family. Purple marks from the last time we saw each other were partially visible over his shirt collar, as well as other marks that looked more recent. After service, I went over to see him.

 "Hey." He smiled, but avoided looking at me.

 "Hi."

 "Are you feeling better? I'm still sorry about practice." He chuckled.

 "It's alright. And yeah, a lot better." I smiled.

 "That's good. So do you think you'd be up for shooting some hoops out back?" He shrugged before looking at his dad, who nodded.

 "Yeah, that sounds good." He smiled while walking out, keeping his head low. We walked out to the back of the church, where a hoop and balls were set out usually for the youth group kids.

 "So how was your day?" I asked while shooting. He shrugged and retrived the ball.

 "Alright, I guess. Didn't go quite as I thought, but it was still all right."

 "How so?"

 "What do you mean?" He took a shot.

 "How did it not go as you thought?" He sighed before getting the ball.

 "My dad said we were going to spend time together but... work got in the way."

 "That sucks. Is he going to make it up to you?"

 "What?"

 "Is he going to try again? Usually when my dad has work when we planned to do something, we do it another day. That's how it works."

 "It is? He's never done that before." He shot the ball perfectly in.

 "Huh. I wonder why." We continued playing in silence until his mom came out saying they were leaving in a few minutes.

 "See you tomorrow then." He smiled slightly, hesitantly hugging me. I hugged back, trying to ignore the sudden urge to kiss him again. He moved away, sharing one more smile with me. I breath got caught in my throat when I noticed the black eye he had.

 "Josh, wait!" He stopped where he was by his family as I ran up.

 "Yeah?"

 "What happened to-"

 "To what?" I glanced over to see the menacing glare from his dad directed at me.

 "Nothing, I thought I saw something, but I guess not. I'll see you later." I forced a smile before walking off to my family.

 "Are you ready to go, Tyler?" I sighed.

 "Yeah."

      The next morning I woke up early and laid in bed, watching the sky. I laid there until my mom yelled up the stairs about me being late. I dressed quickly and grabbed my bag before walking downstairs and sitting at the table with the rest of my family for breakfast. The meal passed quickly in a comfortable silence and soon I was walking onto the bus.

 "TYYYLER!" Jenna shouted before hugging me. "I haven't seen  _ or _ heard from you in so long, I thought something happened!" 

 "I'm fine, Jen. I've just been busy practicing after school, so I've been working on my projects whenever I can." Dallon nodded.

 "How are they coming?" I shrugged.

 "Alright, I guess. I have one that I have reason to believe it's coming along well." I smiled at the thought of 'Spooky Jim' and his positive feedback.

 "And what reason would that be?" Jenna asked, obviously intrigued.

 "I just... feel it. It feels right, like these projects- these songs, they're finally going in the direction I want them to." She smiled.

 "If you ever want to share them, I'm always here to listen." I smiled back.

 "I know. I think I'm going to wait until I have a few more songs I'm confident in, and then maybe I'll play a few for the rising stars show the school does every year." She nodded.

 "Be careful though- remember when that senior from the team did it last year and got cut?"

 "Billie Joe Armstrong?" I sighed. "I remember. I'll have to find a way around it."

 "The rising stars show is in about a month, so you have some time. I've been helping leadership coordinate it." Dallon replied.

 "Do you have an exact date on it?"

 "Yeah, November 14."

 "Thanks, Dallon. I'll keep it in mind." I smiled while getting my bag.

 "Glad to help." He smiled back and went to the tutoring center. Jenna waved before walking towards the gymnasium for cheer. I went to the bleachers and smiled when I heard soft tapping in a distinct rhythm. I sat down and pulled out my notebook.

      "I can tell you're a drummer. A good one too." He stopped.

 "Well hello to you too." He replied cheerfully.

 "Did you have a nice weekend, Spooky?"

 "Eh, could've been better. I got sick on Saturday."

 "That sucks. Was it like a cold?"

 "No, some kind of stomach bug. Food poisoning, maybe." I nodded.

 "Are you better now?"

 "Oh yeah, that was like a one day thing." I smiled slightly.

 "Glad to hear it. If it happens again, my mom knows a really good remedy for that stuff. You can come find me and I'll try to help out."

 "Thanks. You're really nice, for someone a lot of people overlook for being a nerd." I responded without looking up from my notebook.

 "What's that supposed to mean?"

 "They're missing out. You're really sweet. Any guy would be lucky to have you as a friend, and any girl for a date." I nodded, swallowing hard.

 "I guess so."

 "What, you don't believe me?" He scoffed.

 "No- I do believe you. It's just... I don't know."

 "Its just what?"

 "Nothing, I-I don't really know where I was going with it." He sighed.

 "You know you can talk to me, right? Just because I can't see you from here doesn't mean I can't hear you." I nodded.

 "Thanks. For being here, and listening."

 "No problem." He sounded content. I continued trying to come up with the lyrics to finish a song, my thoughts eating away at me. Should I talk about it? What if I did- would he take it the wrong way? Maybe I should, just to clear it out of me so I can finish.

 "Alright, spill. I can  _ feel _ you thinking too hard." I chuckled.

 "Oh really? Can you 'feel' what I'm thinking about?"

 "Nope, that's why I asked." I sighed.

 "Alright, I'll talk. On Friday my friend- the one I'm worried about- he asked me to go with him to this party, and I went, even though I promised myself I'd never go to another. It was just something about how happy he looked when I said yes that really dragged me in. But anyways, while we were there he got drunk- and I mean  _ really _ drunk. Like he could hardly stand, it was kinda funny. But then he asked me something, and we did things, and now I don't know what to think of him." I said the last part so fast it blurred into one slurred phrase. "And the worst part about it for me is he doesn't remember. It was quite possibly the time of my life, and he doesn't even know about it." There was a pause before he replied.

 "What stuff did you do?" My face flushed.

 "We... We-um, we... had sex." I blushed harder. He muttered something to himself that sounded like a string of swears.

 "How did that change your opinion of him though? If he was drunk, he was just releasing tension."

 "Because I liked it. A lot, and I wasn't even drunk to think he was someone else!" 

 "So you and your friend... had sex, and now you think you like him?"

 "I'm going to hell aren't I? He just seemed so happy to have me there, and he was really affectionate, and it just felt  _ so right _  for something that's wrong. I should've been thinking, I should've-"

 "Hey, don't get too hard on yourself. You're not the only gay guy at school. And besides, he could like you back."

 "But it's like you said- he was drunk, he could've just been using me..."

 "How do you know that? Did you ask him?" I hung my head down in shame.

 "No. I didn't even tell him, figured he had other things to worry about. I just don't want it to change anything between us. He's a good friend still, even after our rough start. He's now just a good friend with soft lips and a nice butt." I laughed slightly. He chuckled.

 "Just talk to him. You could be pleasantly surprised if you do." I nodded.

 "Okay, I'll talk to him after we practice." 

 "Alright, don't put it off though, or you'll never find out." I smiled.

 "Okay, okay. I won't."

 "Good. Better?"

 "I guess? They're right when they say talking about it helps."

 "Yeah, I guess. Write."

 "What?"

 "Start writing! You've got your thoughts collected, so write them. You can create some of the most incredible things I've heard with your words, so create with them. Create something with meaning to you, and only you, so you have something with a piece of yourself to share with the world without fully revealing yourself. Write." I smiled and glanced down at the notebook, flipping the page with half- done lyrics for a new song. The bell for lunch rang, and I put my notebook back.

 "I suppose you're just going to stand there and wait until I leave again?" He chuckled.

 "Yep, seems so."

 "You could come with me. It's usually just me, or Jenna sometimes. I think Josh might be there."

 "Thanks. Not today though, I'll -uh, take you up on that another day." I shrugged.

 "I'm holding you to it." I smiled and waved before walking off and into the school. 

      I wove through the hallways until I reached the empty one by the music room, and sat by the door. I pulled my notebook out and continued writing. A few minutes later, someone sat down beside me- Josh. He looked tired, with some of the bruising around his eye faded to more of a purple shade- just as sickening. He smiled at me.

 "Hey, Ty."

 "Hey." I smiled back before continuing to write.

 "Are you doing homework again?" He leaned over towards my notebook. I continued writing, finishing the one I started before.

 "No, this is different."

 "What is it? Is it like poetry or something?"

 "Kinda. They're songs."

 "You're into music?" He asked excitedly. I smiled.

 "Yeah, I play piano and sing a little."

 "I play drums! We could totally do something together!" I looked over at his smile, a sense of deja vu taking over.

 "Yeah... we totally could."

 "Yeah! It could be like Elvis, or The Beatles- they're a newer group."

 "Who? I don't think I've heard much from either of them." His eyes widened.

 "You've  _ never _ heard Elvis? He's so cool- you  _ have _ to listen to him!" I smiled.

 "Alright, I'll listen to Elvis. If you play his music for me on a jukebox."

 "They have one at the soda shop, right? We can do that after practice."

 "Alright. We can cut practice early to do that." He smiled.

 "Yes! I don't have to run as much!"

 "Hey, running is just as important as shooting. Maybe we should start running laps instead..."

 "No- not necessary. Definitely not needed, running is important." I laughed slightly.

 "I figured as much." He looked over at my notebook.

 "So you write songs in there? What kind of songs?" I shrugged.

 "Any kind, I suppose."

 "Can you show me one?" My stomach twisted. I wanted to see them? What would he say?

 "I-I don't usually... But I guess?" I looked up sheepishly. He smiled.

 "Just show me one you're comfortable with." I nodded and flipped to one I finished during the weekend.

 "Here, I wrote this one on Friday and Saturday."

 "You wrote a whole song in that time? I couldn't write something that fast." He chuckled while reading. I glanced at the page and then back at him to see how reaction.

 "I know, it's probably not that good, but it's-" He looked up at me.

 "What do you mean 'not that good'? This is great! It's got a lot of words though, so how would you sing it?"

 "I speak it actually- well, not exactly. It's hard to explain it. It's like singing and speaking it at the same time."

 "So you sing it fast in the rhythm?"

 "Exactly."

 "I haven't heard anyone do that before. Can you demonstrate?"

 "Can I- what?" 

 "Can you show me?" I grabbed the notebook back shakily.

 "Um, s-sure. I'll need to look at the words though." He smiled.

 "No problem." 

 "O-Okay- _ 'I wish I found some better sounds no one's ever heard. I wish I had a better voice that sang some better words. I wish I found some chords in an order that is new. I wish I didn't have to rhyme every time I sang. I was told when I get older all my fears would shrink, but now I'm insecure and I care what people think.' _

  "T-There's a pause here, because I haven't come up with a pre-chorus yet, but anyways,  _ 'Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days. When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out. Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol' days. When our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out. Sometimes a certain smell will take me back to when I was young, how come I'm never able to identify where it's coming from? I'd make a candle out of it if I ever found it, try to sell it, never sell out of it, I'd probably only sell one. It'd be to my brother, 'cause we have the same nose, same clothes homegrown a stone's throw from a creek we used to roam. But it would remind us of when nothing really mattered, out of student loans and treehouse homes we all would take the latter.' _ And then the pre-chorus, and chorus happens again, I-I'm just going to skip it." He nodded.

 "Go on."

 " _ 'We used to play pretend, give each other different names, We would build a rocket ship and then we'd fly it far away, Used to dream of outer space but now they're laughing at our face, Saying, 'Wake up, you need to make money.'" _ I looked up at him nervously. He smiled.

 "That was so cool! The last part though, with the rocket ship, did you write that about me?" I blushed.

 "W-Well I- I take inspiration from everything around me, so I guess? It just kinda stuck with me after you said it. Never having to do anything but travel the galaxy, it does sound nice." He smiled.

 "Yeah, it does." I smiled back. He scooted closer and rested his head in my shoulder. I blushed bright red and sat in silence.

 "Hey, Tyler?"

 "Yeah?"

 "What would you do if someone had a crush on you?"

  "Why do you ask?"

 "It's for someone I've been talking to on weekends. She's really into someone else I know, but I don't really know what to tell her about it. I've never really dated." I nodded.

 "I haven't dated either, so I don't really know. Tell her to talk to him about it, I guess. Try to make it subtle at first and see if he picks up on it, but then become more straightforward if that fails." He nodded.

 "She told me she had been, but he just doesn't notice."

 "I don't really know, I'm not good with this kind of thing." He chuckled.

 "Me either. I might seem really smooth, but I'm super awkward." I snorted.

 "You? Awkward? No way."

 "Yes way!"

 "I've been around you quite a bit the past month or so. Never once we're you awkward." He rolled his eyes.

 "You just haven't noticed it." I scoffed.

 "I think I'd notice, since I'm really awkward."

 "No you're not! I've seen awkward. That's not you, you're just a little shy." I smiled softly.

 "I know I'm awkward, but I appreciate you saying otherwise."

 "But I mean it. You're really not awkward. You're shy, and you're really nice to be around. You're really good at listening." He smiled. I smiled back sheepishly as the bell rang.

 "I-I'll see you after school." He waved while walking off.

 "See you then."

      I got to the bleachers earlier than I had been, and smiled when I saw 'Spooky Jim' wasn't here yet. I crawled underneath them and sat where he usually was. I was determined to find out who this guy was, and why he was so interested in me or what I do. A few minutes passed by before someone sat on the bleachers by me.

 "Nice try." Spooky said, a smirk visible on his lips.

 "How did you know what I was doing?"

 "Because I saw you under them when I was walking over." 

 "I just want to know who you are. I trust you, and besides- it won't change anything." He sighed.

 "It'll change quite a few things." 

 "Like what?" He stated quiet for a moment.

 "One of my friends told me once he was lost."

 "Okay?"

 "I wanted to help find him, but I didn't even know where I was lost to begin with."

 "Were they in a field or something?"

 "Not that kind of lost. Lost in his thoughts, like he was thinking too much."

 "Try asking him about it, see if he'll open up. If not, just give him time." He smiled.

 "I did. I finally got him to open up a little today. On the bus, I overheard him talking about these 'projects', and how much they meant to him. I want to help him more, but I can't."

 "Why not?"

 "Because he doesn't let me." I started getting more interested.

 "Who is it?"

 "I'm meeting him later, at the soda shop a few blocks away."

 "That's good. I'm going to be there too." He smiled.

 "I know. That's why I planned it for today- knowing someone trustworthy like you is going to be there is very reassuring."

 "Who are you? How do you know so much about me?"

 "Someone close."

 "Do you follow me?" I saw him shake his head.

 "That would be creepy. I just want to talk to him more, so I do this weird thing- I pretend to be someone else. For a while, it was his 'self- confidence'. I know he didn't believe me, but it was nice of him to play along." I put my notebook down and started walking out from under the bleachers.

 "What do you want with me? You can just ask, you know." I walked out from the side to see Josh's back facing me. He turned around and smiled weakly.

 "I found you." My face flushed as my eyes widened.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a weirdo writing about two little cinnamon rolls _finally_ getting somewhere in her story. Warnings for this chapter are: Smut (not really hardcore, just bjs) tooth-rotting cute fluff, and implied abuse. Be safe guys and enjoy! :)

***Tyler***

"J-Josh?" He walked over.

 "Hey. You can still call me 'Spooky Jim' if you want, I kinda like it." I looked up and met his eyes.

 "I-I told you everything without- You didn't-" I sniffled while trying to hold back tears.

 "Shh, it's okay." He held me close into his chest.

 "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He scoffed.

 "Why? You haven't done anything wrong!"

 "I know, but I just feel like-" He ran his fingers through my hair while leading me to the bleachers.

 "Shh. Just don't feel anything if it's causing you to cry. Smile for me, please?" I looked up at him and showed my teeth.

 "This better?" He rolled his eyes.

 "A  _ real _ smile, you doofus. Like this." He grinned before poking my nose. I giggled slightly and smiled up at him.

 "Just like that, cutie." His eyes crinkled as his smile grew. I smiled back and nestled into his chest.

 "Thank you." 

 "For what? I didn't do anything." I snorted.

 "Yes you did! You have been, this whole time. Since you tripped me, since the slushie incident, since the barbeque, this whole time- you've been here for me. And I didn't care enough to notice because I thought you were different."

 "Different? How?"

 "I thought you were some really tough guy who wanted to punch everyone. Like a greaser."

 "We're really nothing like the reputation we've got. It's just people see the leather and go running." He chuckled.

 "I guess. Well I'm not running anymore." He smiled.

 "Good. So about what we were talking about before-"

 "When is 'before'?"

 "At lunch. When we were talking about crushes."

 "That was for you, wasn't it?" I giggled. He blushed slightly.

 "Well..." His face grew redder.

 "If you blush any more you're going to be the same color as your hair!" 

 "Stop it! I'm trying to tell you I like you, and you just keep making fun of me!" He pouted.

 "Aw, don't get mad. You're still a tough guy to me." He rolled his eyes.

 "Whatever. I think you know what I mean to say now." I smiled.

 "Yeah, I do." He leaned in close and kissed my lips softly. I blushed and moved with him. He pulled away soon after and smiled.

 "So I know how your family's really religious and all, but do you think you could be my boyfriend?"

 "Are you asking me to break the rules?" 

 "Maybe?" He smiled sheepishly.

 "Well, I mean I already have... okay. Just for you." I giggled before holding his hand. He laced our fingers together and smiled. He smiled back while we sat in comfortable silence. The bell for the free period rang soon after.

 "C'mon, let's go." 

 "Wait!" I crawled under the bleachers and grabbed my notebook and bag. "Now we can go." He chuckled and pulled cobwebs from my hair before grabbing my hand. We walked close together so it was hard to see our clasped hands.

 "Where to now?" I shrugged.

 "You know where I usually hide, so let me see where you go." He smiled slightly.

 "Alright." 

      We walked into the cafeteria while he lead me straight to the back table. Sitting there was Brendon, Pete, and Gabe- the greasers.

 "Josh! Long time, no see. Thought you started hiding from us or something." Pete greeted. Brendon and Gabe exchanged confused glances after looking at me.

 "Hey Josh, what's he doing here?" I moved closer to him.

 "Oh, Tyler? Well, turns out he's the mystery keg guy from before." He smiled. 

 "See, didn't I tell you assholes!" Gabe shouted.

 "Alright, alright. Geez, sorry we didn't believe you." Pete rolled his eyes.

 "Well congrats, you broke my record."

 "Oh, well I-I wasn't really trying to... sorry about that." Brendon chuckled.

 "What are you so scared about? You ain't got nothing to be sorry for, that's awesome!" I looked over at Josh and smiled slightly.

 "See, nothing like the reputation." He whispered in my ear before sitting down in one of the empty chairs. I sat in the other beside him and grabbed into his hand under the table. They started shouting all at once.

 "Hey, what's all the whispering about!?"

 "Yeah, you keeping secrets Josh?" Brendon stayed quiet and narrowed his eyes before going under the table.

 "Brendon, what the hell are you doing down there!?" Pete shouted. Brendon grabbed his hand and dragged him under, laughing while grabbing Gabe's hand and forcing him under the table. I glanced over at Josh before going under the table with him. Brendon, Gabe, and Pete smiled at us.

 "Hm, 'don't like anyone', eh Josh?" Brendon smirked. I blushed after looking at our interlocked hands.

_ "Es adorable!"  _ Gabe smiled. 

 "What?" Josh chuckled.

 "I'm no Spanish expert, but I think he said we're adorable." He pecked my cheek. I blushed harder and pressed my lips into his. The greasers cheered and hollered while our lips lingered for a moment longer. He pulled away and smiled at me. I smiled back and rested my head on his shoulder. The greasers smiled at us sweetly before the bell rang. We all got out from under the table and started going out separate ways. Pete stopped me before I could follow Josh.

 "Hey, you're welcome anytime, alright? Be careful though, 'cause we might be the only few welcoming to yours and Josh's relationship though." He smiled before walking away. I caught up to Josh and walked with him.

      "So should we go to class? We haven't in quite a while."

 "Hm... I have an idea on what we could do instead." I smirked. He scoffed.

 "You? Not go to class?"

 "What? It's just an idea..." I lead him away towards the empty hallway by the music room.

 "Must be a good idea." He smiled and grabbed my hand before pulling me along.

 "I have another idea. We need to be to that empty hallway though." I followed him back. He went into one of the empty classrooms and came back with a few large mop buckets on wheels. 

 "Fancy a race?" I chuckled.

 "Really? Those things are probably gross." He rolled his eyes before putting his jacket in the bottom of one.

 "After you, princess." I rolled my eyes and say down on it. He got in the other one and moved it beside me.

 "So how do we-"

 "Go!" He started propelling himself down the hallway quickly. I huffed and followed his lead, catching up to him. 

 "That wasn't fair! You didn't tell me how to steer!"

 "Well I thought it was self- explanatory!" He turned around a corner, leaning almost out of the bucket. I giggled and turned, pushing myself faster past him. 

 "Ha!" 

 "Hey! I was winning!" He started catching up to me quickly, coming right up beside me.

 "I'm gonna beat you!"

 "Not if I-" He froze as voices approached quickly. He held his arm out and stopped me.

 "What?" He pulled me out and grabbed his jacket before taking off running.

 "Go, go, go!" I followed him as he ducked into an empty classroom. I shut the door behind me and sat against it beside him.

 "Who is it?" 

 "Hall monitors." We sat in silence as footsteps past. A few minutes after I peaked out the small window in the door.

 "Looks like it's clear." I cracked open the door and walked out. He followed me out, the bell ringing just as we shut the door. I sighed in relief and smiled.

 "That was close." He chuckled.

 "Let's go practice now." He groaned.

 "Can't we take a day off?"

 "Maybe at the end of the week. We still need to practice." He huffed.

 "Fine. At least I get to see your wonderful ass in uniform after all this hard work..." He whispered before walking off to the courts. I blushed and followed him back, grabbing a ball from outside the gym along the way.

 "Ready to get beat again?" He laughed.

 "I don't know, are you?" I rolled my eyes.

 "Then let's start."

      "I thought you said... we're gonna end... early!" Josh whined while running after me across the court.

 "Well if don't practice you won't get to see my... what were the words you used? That's right- 'wonderful ass'!" I smirked while running as he sped up.

 "Don't you use my words against me! I'll make you eat them!" I giggled while running.

 "Are you sure it's 'words' you're gonna feed me?" He stopped dead in his tracks and stared while blushing.

 "Geez, you're a lot dirtier than I thought." I smiled and walked over to him.

 "Only for you and you alone." I winked while running off and shooting another basket as he stared.

 "I... I..."

 "Come on, Josh! That's 6-2!" I shouted while running by him. He swiped the ball from me and smirked while running off and shooting another basket.

 "Actually, 6-4. Don't taunt me, baby, because I  _ will _ show you up. Every. Damn. Time." He walked off while spinning the ball on one of his fingertips.

 "So what you wanna do now? Another round, soda shop, something else?" He glanced over, a devilish glint in his eyes.

 "U-Um..." His eyes went down me and back up to mine.

 "Something else?"

 "S-Something else." He smiled.

 "You don't have to be nervous, baby. If I remember what you said right, we've done this before." I blushed bright red.

 "Yeah, but you were drunk."

 "And that means this time will be even better, since I'll know what I'm doing." He winked.

 "I won't pressure you into anything you don't want." He grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips. I smiled up at him.

 "I want this." He smiled back while we walked off.

 "Let's get going then."

 "Where are we going?" He shrugged.

 "Probably a janitor's closet. Can't do much better here." I nodded.

 "It's alright." He smiled and led me down an empty hallway while grinning. He opened the door and gently pushed me in. I pulled him in after me while he grabbed the door and shut it behind him. The moment it was shut, his lips on mine was the only thing I felt in the dark closet. I moaned into his mouth as he moved feverishly.

 "Fuck, Tyler. I've been wanting to do this to you for a long time. And actually remember it." He grinded into me, practically on top in the small space.

 "J-Josh-" I groaned as his hands moved down, undoing my belt before going into my pants.

 "Tell me what you want, baby boy."

 "You, I-I don't care what you do, just do something." I moaned as kissed down my neck.

 "How about what you said earlier? With you 'eating my words'?" I nodded.

 "Yeah, okay." He wrapped his hands around my shoulders while gently guiding me down to my knees. I undid the button on his jeans and slid them down with his underwear to reveal his boner. I stated up at him with wide eyes.

 "Pretty big, isn't it?" He smirked.

 "Y-Yeah. Wow..." I wrapped my hand around him and slid it down, causing him to shudder.

 "God, Tyler..." I curiously moved my hand up again and licked down the underside. He whined while threading his fingers through my hair.

 "Was that right? Am I doing it right?" He chuckled.

 "Hell yes. And if you wanna get it  _ really _ right, get that pretty mouth of yours around it." I nodded, hollowing out my cheeks before sliding my lips around him. He moaned loudly, pulling on my hair.

 "Oh my God, Tyler! J-Just like that, yes!" I felt myself getting harder with his moans as he tugged on my hair. I bobbed my head up and down, causing his moans to get louder. He pulled harder, pulling my head forward until he was in the back of my throat. My eyes bugged out as I gagged around him.

 "F-Fuck! Feels so good, baby..." He moaned. I put one of my hands inside my pants and started pumping to the rhythm he slid himself back and forth in my mouth. I moaned around him as we continued.

 "Oh my G-God! Do that again!" He purred. I started going faster as I felt myself get harder, moaning even more.

 "Y-You're doing so well, ah- I'm gonna come!" He practically screamed. I moaned loudly while coming into my hand. His grip on my hair tightened as he comed, making tears come to my eyes. Once he finished, I slid off him with a 'pop' sound coming from my lips.

 "Oh my God, Tyler. You're amazing." He smiled while helping me up.

 "I did good then?" He giggled.

 "Oh yeah. Really good." I opened the door to the cramped closet and walked out. Josh followed me close, a smile plastered to his face.

 "So what now? We've been here longer than we usually practice."

 "Yeah, my dad's probably going to be really mad, since he has work tonight."

 "And you help him with that?" He instantly tensed up.

 "Yeah, h-he likes having me there to help."

 "Why don't you take the night off from helping him? It's late anyways, you could stay over at my house." I smiled hopefully.

 "I-I really can't, he's probably really busy right now..." I sighed.

 "Okay, I'll walk you home then."

 "Thanks." He smiled softer, grabbing my hand as we walked out of school. He stayed deathly quiet on the walk back, concerning me.

 "Hey, are you alright?"

 "Huh- oh yeah, I'm fine." He forced a smile. I stayed quiet, my gaze focused on him until he sighed.

 "I'm scared, okay? My dad usually gets so stressed about his job, and having me there, I-I'm scared of how he'll be when I get home."

 "Josh, you shouldn't have to be afraid to go home. He's-"

 "But you don't understand! He needs me to help, it pays better to have me there."

 "... Josh, what kind of job does your dad have?"

 "U-Um, business. He runs a business."

 "What kind of business?"

 "I-It's just a business, I don't wanna talk about it." I sighed.

 "Okay, I won't push it further."

 "Thank you."

 "Like I was saying before though, you shouldn't have to be afraid. If he's making you scared to be there, it sounds like he's really overworked."

 "Yeah, I'll say. He spends a lot of time managing the business." He stopped a few houses down, hidden behind a large tree.

 "Goodnight, Tyler." He kissed me quickly before running towards his house.

 "Goodnight." I smiled softly before walking back to my house.

      "Tyler, you're late again!" My mom greeted at the door. My smile faded ad reality came back.

 "I'm sorry, mom. We were making really good progress today!" She sighed.

 I thought so- basketball practice. I saved you a plate from dinner, you can bring it up to your room to eat while you start your homework." I forced a smile and took the plate from her.

 "Thanks, mom."

 "You're welcome, sweetie. Make sure to get your homework done before it gets too late!"

 "I will!" I walked up the stairs, releasing a breath I wasn't aware of holding. I walked into my room, scraping all the food off the plate into the trash can before sitting at my desk and starting my homework. After a couple hours of working on it (actually stressing about how little I knew about any of the stuff covered and guessing on any questions I couldn't figure out), I decided to relax by writing a new song before bed. I pulled out my notebook and flipped to a blank page before thinking of a new song.

_ "No one really knows his mind and no one knows behind his eyes. The man deserves a medal, but he's never really won a prize before. He goes to lock the door. He is falling in love, he knows it's enough. And the world looks down and frowns. Get up Johnny boy, get up Johnny boy, get up 'cause the world has left you lying on the ground. You're my pride and joy, you're my pride and joy. Get up Johnny boy because we all need you now." _ I smiled to myself while continuing.

_ "Someone said, 'Where you going?' Someone said to you, 'Goodbye.' They deflect the disrespect when they say that they blame it on the times. They blame it on the time. We all know you're qualified to fix a chair and love your wife, they all know you're qualified but they lie when they blame it on the times. And we blame it on the times."  _ I yawned while putting my notebook away, changing into pajamas before going to bed.

      I woke up a few hours early after sleeping restlessly. I sighed when I looked outside my window and saw the sun hadn't even come up yet.

 "Why?!" I groaned while throwing a pillow on my face. A weird 'plinking' sound came from the window, getting my attention. I pulled one of the curtains back to see Josh outside. He started mouthing something while pointing.

 "What?" I mouthed back while shrugging. He sighed and gestured for me to open the window. I carefully opened the window a crack.

 "What were you saying?" He laughed slightly.

 "I couldn't sleep, I hope you don't mind." I smiled.

 "It's okay, I couldn't really sleep either." He smiled back.

 "So, what now?" I laughed slightly.

 "I don't know-" I froze when I heard my parent's alarm clock go off down the hall.

 "My parents are up now, you have to hide." He nodded.

 "Okay, I'll... be in the bush."

 "The bush?" I giggled.

 "What? It's hidden, and I can meet you on the bus after."

 "Okay, if you insist." He smiled and blew me a kiss before ducking into the bush under my window. I pulled the curtains back and laid back in my bed. 

      My mom knocked on the door a few minutes later.

 "Tyler! Time to wake up!" I got changed before going downstairs to have breakfast with my family.

 "Did you sleep okay, Tyler? You look awfully tired..." My mom asked while putting a plate in front of me with eggs and bacon.

 "I'm sleeping fine, mom."

 "Okay, just making sure. Eat all of your breakfast, so you don't fall asleep in class." She smiled playfully.

 "I'm not tired though!"

 "I'm just joking." She said defensively. The rest of the meal went by with my siblings making conversation. I picked at my plate before leaving the food on there as the bus pulled up.

 "Alright, bus is here." My dad said while my mom cleaned up the dishes. I grabbed my bag.

 "Tyler, you didn't eat anything!"

 "Sorry, mom! I'll eat at school!" I said while walking out to the bus.

 "Okay, make sure you do!" She replied before hugging Zack, Maddy, and I.

 "You kids have a good day."

 "We will, mom!" Maddy smiled before following us out the door. Zack and Maddy started walking to their school. After a few moments, I walked over to the bush.

 "Okay, it's clear." Josh crawled out of the bush, pulling leaves from his hair.

 "Next time, I'm finding somewhere else." I giggled. 

 "Come on, bus is here. We don't want to be late." He groaned.

 "Do we have to!?"

 "Yes, we do. It's kinda required." He huffed.

 "Fine. I'll do this... school-thing with you- if we don't have to practice after school." He followed me on to the bus.

 "No can-do, we have to make sure you make the team."

 "But why!?"

 "Because you said you wanted to!"

 "Well, what if I was just saying that as an excuse to be with you?" He smirked as I blushed.

 "Oh, well- You still have to practice if you want to see me in uniform." I smiled while he groaned.

 "Better be worth it..." I say down besides Jenna. Josh sat behind me, leaning over the back of the seat.

      "Hey, Tyler!" She smiled.

 "Hey. Did Dallon miss the bus?" She shook her head.

 "No, he's... he told me the other day he was going to start walking so he could get to tutoring early." My mind immediately went to what I saw the last time I went into the tutoring center before school.

 "Oh, there must be a lot of people who need tutoring then."

 "Yeah, I guess. So how have you been? I haven't been able to hang out with you at lunch because of cheer."

 "I know, but it's okay. The season starts soon, so it shouldn't be so bad then."

 "Yeah, hopefully. Coach Williams has been relentless at training, it's brutal!"

 "Hayley's mom is the coach again? I thought they said she was too hard on you guys."

 "Yeah, but... I guess they couldn't get anyone else."

 "I guess so."

 "So are you really going to do that talent show?" I sighed.

 "I don't know. I hope so, but I don't see how I can since it's the night of qualifiers." She raised her eyebrow.

 "And that's the only reason you might not?"

 "No, I don't know if anything I've written is good enough. I mean, yeah, they feel right to me, but what if no one else thinks so? Then is it really worth the risk?" 

 "I'm sure you have something good. And if you ever want a second opinion, I'm here for you." I smiled slightly.

 "Thanks."

 "No problem. How many have you written so far?"

 "In this school year? Probably... somewhere around 10."

 "Have you even been in class?" She smiled amused.

 "Yes! Well, not the past month, but I've been getting all the homework at least!" She sighed. The bus pulled up I  front of the school.

 "Well, I'm going to cheer. See you later!" She waved while walking off.

 "Man, she talks a lot!" Josh joked while we got off the bus.

 "Yeah, but that's just how she is. There's nothing wrong with it."

 "I wasn't saying there was."

 "I know." I smiled.

 "So, ten songs? I've only heard three." I smiled.

 "Yeah, I write a lot. It's a bad habit."

 "No it's not. It's not bad to write music, because someone's gotta for there to be anything on the radio."

 "I suppose. It's a bad habit for someone whose family is making them do basketball though."

 "Well maybe I could hear you play a few of those songs? We could go inside the music room you're always sitting by, with the big grand piano, and a guitar, and other instruments, and you could sing for me with that pretty little voice of yours?" He smiled flirtatiously. I blushed wildly.

 "I-I- um... yeah, sure. Maybe after practice so it won't be being used."He giggled.

 "Thank you. And if you're worried about anyone else being there, well- me and my friends for a good solution for that."

 "You're not beating anyone up, I hope." I scoffed.

 "No way! Come on, let's go find Pete so he can prove to you the solution is non-violent ." 

      He led me through the hallways of the school until we stopped at the swimming pool.

 "Josh, it's usually locked before-"

 "Shh, they'll hear us." He gestured towards the different coaches in their offices across the hall. I nodded as he pulled a baby pin out of his bag and stuck it inside the lock. After a moment it clicked, and the door swung open.

 "After you, one of many doubts." I held back laughter while walking in. He followed and locked the door behind him, leaving it like how we found it. Sitting on the other side of the pool was Pete, with a notebook in his lap.

 "What do you guys want? I'm busy writing." He grumbled without looking up.

 "We can see that."

 "Hey, you write too?" I looked down at his notebook.

 "Yes, and it's  _ private _ . I don't know of many who get that concept."

 "No, I totally get it. I write a lot too." I looked up intrigued.

 "Really? The basketball mvp writes?"

 "Oh, lay off him Pete! He's really good!" Josh intervened.

 "Alright, alright. Sorry, I get a little defensive about it." He smiled slightly.

 "Don't worry about it. It's hard not to over something as personal as writing."

 "Yeah. So what do you two need?"

 "Do you still have that spare key to the locked levels of school?" Josh asked.

 "Ooh, sneaking down to the furnace, are we? Pretty romantic, Josh. Gonna scare poor little Tyler here into your loving, protective arms?" He rolled his eyes.

 "No, I heard about how well that went with Brendon."

 "Or lack thereof." Pete laughed.

 "Yeah. We actually need it to get to the empty band room."

 "Oh, I see. You want access to the better piano."

 "Wait, there's a whole level of school that's just locked?"

 "For someone who's been here a while compared to me, you don't know much about this place, do you?" Josh smiled.

 "Well no! I usually try to stay out of places that could get me into trouble."

 "'Usually'?"

 "Yeah. Not this time, because you've got me interested." Pete laughed while going through his bag.

 "It seems you've got yourself a curious one, Josh."

 "Oh yeah. There's so much he doesn't know about. It's going to be fun to show him."

 "Hey! I know plenty!"

 "Of what you're supposed to know, what they tell you. We know so much more, because we do what you might call 'bending the rules'." Pete replied while holding the key.

 "And there's a whole other perspective to everything I know?" I said incredulously 

 "Well how else do they keep you obedient? They keep quiet on what they don't want you to know- that way then if you don't know about it, you can't do it. Now this was hard to come across, so I've got a little price of my own for it." Josh sighed.

 "What is it?"

 "There's some recording equipment down there. I wanna come with you guys so that I can record something for my boyfriend."

 "So you want to come with us, record something, and then that's it?" He nodded.

 "Please? It's really important, and I want to get it done now, because it's for winter formal in a month."

 "You're planning pretty far ahead..."

 "It's really important, please?" Josh and I smiled.

 "Sure thing. Might take a while to figure out the equipment, but we'll help." He beamed.

 "Then let's just this joint! The sooner, the better!" I put his notebook in his bag before leading the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random story because I think I'm funny or interesting for dumb reason: My sister does golf for our school's team and was at a practice. And my stepdad went to pick her up so I was like 'ah yes, home alone. Time to belt out some Panic! At The disco!' And that's how they found me in the living room practically screaming along to Hallelujah in my pajamas


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning for some fighting and racial slurs in this chapter. That's really not how I want to word it, but after dealing with updates (hence the late chapter), my brain is just totally fried. So yeah lol. Stay safe and enjoy guys! :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random story cause I think my life is interesting for some stupid reason: I was in my English class today and we always do some kind of writing thing when the class starts and so the teacher puts three pictures up on the board and says "Choose one and write a story based off it." And they were all really creepy pictures, so the first thought in my mind is "ooh! Creepypasta! I like those I got this! Since I can't make this work with any of my otps, I'll do that!" So I wrote like the length of one chapter in this of a short, probably considered horror, story in about twenty minutes, and then near the end of class he let some people read theirs. Oh my god, mine looks so fricken disturbed by theirs so I'm like hoping he doesn't make me read mine or Monday or when he checks our notebooks for the warm-up things he just doesn't say anything? Like there was some really screwed up crap in it.

***Tyler***

"Geez, do they ever dust down here!? It's covered in spider webs!" I complained while we walked down the hall of one of the lower levels. Pete rolled his eyes.

 "They don't ever come down here, it's only set up for emergencies."

 "What kind of emergencies would an underground school be useful in?" Josh said incredulously.

 "I don't fucking know. These assholes are paranoid about every little thing, probably Soviet attacks or some stupid shit."

 "Fair enough. Don't think we'd stand a chance either way, but hey- they tried." Josh laughed.

 "Yeah. How much farther is it?" Pete shrugged.

 "Not much. It's laid out exactly like the school, so it's in the same place as the music room- just under it."

 "This is actually kinda cool. It's like walking into the twilight zone or something." Pete laughed.

 "You watch that crap?" Josh pouted.

 "It's not crap, it's cool! Especially the episodes with aliens!"

 "Oh brother, you don't think they actually exist do you?"

 "He does-"

 "What else could've landed in Roswell!?"

 "I don't know, government planes?"

 "Yeah, the ones there to investigate the mother ship." Josh scoffed. We walked up to the music room, the door left open.

 "Well, here we are. The recording stuff is back here." He pulled a sheet off a huge panel built into the back wall, filled with all sorts of buttons and knobs.

 "Whoa, that's intensive..." I started brushing the dust off while Josh messed with the different buttons.

 "Hey, I know how this works! They used something similar to this in Star Trek!" He smiled while pulling one of the headsets on.

 "Are you fucking kidding!?" Josh smiled smugly.

 "Nope. Sci-fi  _ isn't  _ fucking stupid, case and point." Pete rolled his eyes while dusting off the piano.

 "Whatever, at least you know what you're doing with this."

 "Yeah. Ready when you are." He started flicking a few switches. Pete took in a shaky breath before pulling out his notebook.

 "Man, I really sick at singing. Oh well, here goes." He started playing different chords on the piano before he started singing.

_ "Why can you read me like no one else? I hide behind these words, but I'm coming out. I wish I kept them behind my tongue, I hide behind these words. But I'm coming out. _

_  "Put your hand between an aching head and an aching world. We'll make them so jealous, we'll make them hate us. An aching head and an aching world, we'll make them so jealous. We'll make them so jealous."  _

 "Wow, he's really good at writing.” I whispered. Josh nodded.

_  "All the ways you make my stomach turn, and all the long drives with my friends blur, and I wish I kept them inside my mind. I hide behind these words. _

_  "And think of all the places, where you've been lost, and then found...out. In between my sheets, in between the rights and the wrongs. _

_  "Put your hand between an aching head and an aching world. We'll make them so jealous, we'll make them hate us. Aching head and an aching world- think of all the places where you've been lost and found...out _ ." He smiled up at us with a thumbs- up when he finished. Josh flipped a few switches before taking the headset off.

 "Okay, all it's gotta do now is finish processing the recording, and then it should spit out a 45."

 "Cool, thanks." He smiled.

 "That was really good, the lyrics were."

 "Thanks. So what about you, what kind of stuff do you write?"

 "Nothing that good." I chuckled he rolled his eyes.

 "It's art, dude. No such thing as bad art."

 "Okay, then different."

 "Yeah, he sang one of his songs for me, and the way it's sang is so different, it's amazing!" Josh added.

 "Well, I wouldn't say amazing, it's just kinda spoken." He nodded.

 "That still sounds cool, like intense poetry slam!"

 "Yeah, I guess. I do have some regular songs too."

 "Well let's hear one! You heard me spill my heart out, it's your turn." Pete smiled eagerly. I sighed while sitting at the piano.

 "Alright, fine." Josh sat down on the floor beside the piano, smiling up at me. I smiled back while starting the song.

_ "It just hit me as I laid my head down. No one around in the dark cold night, I hear a sound, in my head, repeat track of everything you've ever said. Must be something, but it's nothing, so I just go back to bed. _

_  "It's 4, crack the door to the hallways in my dreams, but it seems my hallway keeps closing in on me. Forcing me out, making me think about you and how you're gone. I see 4:05 in teary eyes and then I write this song. _

_   "And I just can't believe it has to be this way, you know we say it seems to me that it was just the other day I saw your face, I saw your light, you ran the race, you fought the fight. But now it's all being torn down for me tonight. And I know it might be a little selfish for me to say, but I need to know if you've thought of me at all today, 'cause every day walk past the place you lived 5 days of the week. And now it's 10 after 4 and I am taken by sleep. _

_  "Spending hours on end, deciding what I'd say to a friend if I ever saw him again. 'Cause I don't if I know, don't want to come across the wrong way, and I don't know if I know, but I know I want to see your face today. _

_  "And somebody told me they saw you cry, and break down. Do you know how hard that is to get around and think about? It's not like you to let emotions get the best of things, especially when everything is hanging in the air we breathe. _

_  "And I just can't believe it has to be this way, you know we say it seems to me that it was just the other day I saw your face and saw your light, you ran the race, you fought the fight. But now it's all being torn down for me tonight. And I know it might be a little selfish for me to say, but I need to know if you thought of me at all today, 'cause every day walk past the place you lived 5 days of the week. And now it's 10 after 4 and I am taken by sleep. _

_  "I'll sing a song to you, my friend. I'll sing a song to you, my friend. I'll sing a song to you, my friend. I'll sing a song to you, my-- Let's go! _

_  "Friend, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll sing a song to you my friend. I'll sing a song to you my friend. I'll sing a song to you my friend. I'll sing a song to you my friend."  _ I finished the song, looking over at Pete and Josh.

 "Wow. I take back anything I ever said about you before, that was incredible!" I smiled.

 "That was amazing, babe!" Josh beamed.

 "Thanks..." I blushed.

 "Have you ever thought about doing that talent show thing in a few weeks?" Pete asked.

 "Actually I have, but I'm not so sure about it."

 "You'd be a big hit if you did, since your stuff is so different."

 "Yeah, but- the qualifiers for basketball that night, and if I'm not there my dad won't be happy. I want to though." I sighed.

 "Well, it seems you've got a choice- what you really want for yourself, or what they want for you." Pete said while standing up. He grabbed the small record from the machine before walking off.

 "You've got some weird friends." I commented while Josh slid beside me on the piano bench.

 "How are they weird?"

 "Well, there's Brendon. He's really hyper-"

 "ADHD, it's a mental thing. Makes him really hyper and have a short attention span. He can’t help it."

 "And Gabe, he's a-"

 "Latino? Believe it or not, he's really cool. He's also just like everyone else. Except he can speak Spanish." He smiled.

 "And Pete's really moody sometimes."

 "Eh, it's another mental thing. He doesn't talk much about it. But there's nothing wrong with it."

 "Oh. You're right- greasers are nothing like what I thought." I smiled.

 "Yeah, and you- well, you're just like us. Misjudged and put somewhere you might not want to be."

 "Yeah, that feels... right, to say. I honestly didn't really want to do basketball, it was just a way to get into college."

 "Then what do you want to do?"

 "I want to make music. And share a piece of myself with everyone through it." He smiled.

 "Come on, then. Let's go get you signed up for the talent show."

 "But the game-"

 "What about the game? You want to make music, don't you?"

 "Yeah?"

 "Then the talent show is more important. Let's go." I stood up and followed him out.

 "Do you still have the key?"

 "Yeah, why?"

 "Just making sure I have some place to practice for the talent show." He smiled.

 "Well I'll make sure to keep it safe then." I smiled back.

 "Thanks." He lead the way back out.

 

      We walked back out to the main area of school right as the bell rang for lunch.

 "Well, let's go see how the weirdos are doing." Josh joked while we went to the cafeteria. Sitting at the back table was Brendon, Gabe, Pete, and Patrick.

 "What's up, losers?" Brendon eagerly greeted.

 "You guys want downstairs didn't you?" Gabe asked while pointing at the spider webs in my hair and in Josh's jacket.

 "Yeah. I didn't even know that was there!" Josh smiled.

 "It's like I said to you- there's always so much more than what you know." Pete replied while scooting closer to Patrick.

 "So, this is your elusive ‘special’ friend, Pete?" Brendon asked loudly.

 "Yeah, I'm Patrick." He smiled.

 "Hey, I didn't know you were with them too." I smiled.

 "Well I told you in the beginning of the year they weren't that bad, didn't I? I'm pretty sure I was probably convinced of that by a certain someone."

 "Hey, you said you liked it as much as I did!"

 "Whoa, we don't wanna hear about it, Pete." Josh grimaced.

 "What? About how I-" he was cut off by the rest of us collectively groaning.

 "Man, we don't share those details, so don't you either!" Gabe yelled before muttering in Spanish.

 "You guys act like a bunch of little girls. 'Oh, my poor ladylike ears! They can't stand to hear such vulgar words!'"

 "Not Hayley though." Brandon started laughing.

 "Yeah- or Debby. Those two are the life of the party!" Pete laughed along.

 "What about their new friend, Jenna?" Gabe asked.

 "Her? Man, I don't know. Seems kinda like she's there to babysit." Pete shrugged.

 "She's nice though, she helped me home one night when I was  _ way _ too drunk." Gabe chuckled.

 "Yeah, that's what I mean." Brendon replied. Pete shrugged.

 "We'll see later this weekend."

 "You having another party?"

 "Yep. And you all better be there." He smiled.

 "On Friday?"

 "Yeah, when else?"

 "I can't, that's when tryouts for basketball are." He sighed.

 "'S not going to be the same without you two there."

 "Well don't cancel just because of us. We don't wanna ruin your fun." 

 "Alright, party's still on!" Gabe and Brendon cheered.

 "You can always try to take your record back, Bren." Patrick laughed.

 "You mean I haven't!? God damn it, I was beyond wasted at the last one! How did you do that!?" I shrugged.

 "I don't know, it just kinda happened." He snorted.

 "Whatever, I'm taking my title back!"

 "What, is there some sort of crown that goes with it?" Patrick asked confused.

 "Yeah! I'm gonna take back the crown!"

 "There's no fucking crown!"

 "Bullshit! I'm taking back the crown, so there better be a fucking crown!" Pete huffed.

 "You bring the damn crown then, because you want it so fucking bad." Brendon rolled his eyes.

 “Fine. I bring the fucking crown, it stays my fucking crown.” Brendon muttered.

 “You guys are insane…” I grumbled.

 “Hey you  _ chose  _ to hang with us! That makes you just as crazy as the rest of us!” Pete yelled back.

 “Yeah, that makes you one of us!” Josh smiled.

 “And what if I said it doesn’t work that way?” I smiled.

 “Well then you’d be wrong! You choose us, you’re one of us!” Gabe replied.

 “One of us! One of us! One of us!” Brendon began chanting. Pete and Gabe joined in almost immediately. Josh giggled before joining in as well, playfully poking me along to their rhythm. Patrick rolled his eyes before chanting with them.

 “Alright, I get it. I’m one of you guys.”

 “It’s not just ‘you guys’, it’s  _ us _ . We’re like a family, dude. And now you’re a part of the the family.” Pete smiled. I smiled.

 “I don’t think I’ve really had any friends who really were like a family.”

 “Don’t get all sappy on us! You do now, so that’s it. No need to start the waterworks!” Brendon replied. Josh smiled.

 “I told you they were cool.”

 “I know you did. I let your guy’s- our- reputation get in the way of getting to know you.”

 “Hey, not true! We are just like our reputation, we’re tough guys!” Gabe complained. Patrick scoffed.

 “Yeah, for maybe the first month of school.” Pete rolled his eyes before playfully punching him.

 “You know that’s not true!” Patrick mocked shock.

 “ _ Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz! _ Did you just do what I think you did!?” He smirked while the rest of us laughed.

 “Oh you’re in the doghouse now Pete!”

 “Jesus Christ that’s your whole name!?”

 “Damn, do you have tea with the queen across the pond on the weekends?” Brendon mocked in a posh accent while we all laughed. 

 “Dude what the hell is up with that name?” I laughed.

 “Ooh, Tyler said a bad word!” Brendon laughed.

 “Hey, cut it out! My name’s ridiculous, but at least my middle name’s not  _ Boyd _ .” He smirked while Brendon glared jokingly.

 “You wanna go, Wentz?” He stood up.

 “Hell yeah, I do!” Pete stood up and charged at him.

 “Hey, hey! Cut it out, you two!” Josh stood up and moved in between them.

 “Outta the way, Josh! I gotta rip his throat out for making fun of my name!”

 “Oh, is Josh  _ Dun _ with us?” Brendon joked.

 “That’s it, I’m gonna slug you so hard-” He grabbed onto Brendon’s shirt collar.

 “Hey, that’s enough!” I yelled while separating them. They all started laughing before sitting down.

 “Alright, alright. After school then.”

 “No- well, you two can. Josh can't.” His eyes widened.

 “What- why!?”

 “Because you've got basketball! Real or not- they see you fighting, you're out!”

 “You're actually going through with that?” Josh shrugged.

 “Well, I made a promise that I would.” He smiled.

 “Yeah. Besides, it’s only fair that I force him into something like he’s forcing me.” I joked.

 “Hey, you said you  _ wanted  _ to do the show, not that I was making you!” 

 “I know! I was just making a joke.”

 “So you’re actually gonna do it?” Pete’s eyes lit up.

 “Yeah. I’ll need help figuring out which song to play, but I think I’m going through with it.”

 “Awesome, we’ll all be there to support you. And if anyone tries to give you two a tough time about it well- then we’ll really fulfill our reputation.” He smiled comfortingly while the bell rang.

 “My only request is you don’t kill anyone. Other than that- go wild.” I smiled while walking off with Josh.

 “Hey, you're finally letting loose!” Brendon cheered. I shrugged.

 “What can I say? They think we’re a bunch of heathens, hell- let’s fit the part.” Josh smiled.

 “That’s the spirit! Now come on, we should maybe be in our classes for the next few days so tryouts go better.” I sighed.

 “If we must…” He giggled.

 “We must, you big slacker.”

 “Wha- me!? I’ll beat you there just to prove I’m not slacking!” I started sprinting down the hall while he ran after me.

 “Hey you got a head start! No fair!” He panted out after stopping by me in front of the classroom.

 “Well, now that we’ve proven that, let’s get to class.” The bell rang just as we walked in and sat nearby each other in the back.

 

       “Come on, Tyler! You have to choose one!” Josh said while I stared down my notebook and other loose papers filled with lyrics on the bleacher in front of the one we sat on.

 “I know! But what if I choose the wrong one?”

 “How can you choose one that's wrong? They're all songs you've written. So if the audience doesn't like it, they're wrong for not letting you express yourself.”

 “Okay… I feel like I'm choosing who lives or not out of all my children.” I chuckled, twirling a strand of my hair around in thought.

 “Well then I'll choose and make it easier for you.”

 “No, wait! Then you might choose wrong too!” He sighed.

 “Tyler- I love you, but you're being absolutely ridiculous right now.” I blushed.

 “You… love me?” His eyes widened.

 “Wait, I-I didn't- fuck, I…” I smiled softly, my face still bright red.

 “I love you too. Now help me pick out a song.” He smiled back, wrapping his arms around me while looking through the different pages as I flipped through them.

 “Stop. That one.” He pointed at a page near the back of my notebook titled ‘Semi- Automatic.’

 “You’re sure? You haven’t heard it yet.”

 “Don’t need to to know it’s good. Everything you make is incredible, I’m sure this is no exception.” I sighed.

 “Alright, ‘Semi-Automatic it is. It might take me a little to get the piano part good again, since I haven’t played it in a while.”

 “That's alright, we've got the key to downstairs- you've got the perfect area to practice.”

 “Well, then I guess the sooner the better.” I stood up and put the papers in my bag. Josh followed me back through the halls of the school, stopping when we heard yelling from one of the halls.

 “Damn Beaner! Don’t you understand you don’t fucking belong here!” Josh glanced at me before sprinting down the hall.

 “Josh, wait!” I hissed before running after him. He froze behind a corner nearby the scene.

 “It’s Gabe! We gotta do something!” I looked over to see he was right- Gabe was being beat up by other guys from the basketball team. Josh ran in and started pulling them off Gabe.

 “ _ Tyler! _ Don’t just stand there, come on!” He urged. If I did go out there, then I would forever separate make myself known as one of the greasers, thus alienating myself from majority of the school. But if I didn’t-

 “Hey! Get the hell outta here!” I yelled while grabbing one of them by the collar of their shirt and throwing them down.

 “What do you think you’re doing, Tyler!? That guy ain’t worth the air he breathes!” He yelled while I threw him to the floor.

 “Bullshit! He’s worth way more than that- he’s my friend!” I stormed off after where Josh had taken Gabe to see if he needed to see the school nurse.

 “You’re fucking defending him!? He’s a beaner- he’s nothing!” The other yelled.

 “Damn right I am.” I replied without looking at them, running after Josh to avoid being found by hall monitors.

 “Hey, you’re alright now, we got those guys of you.” He comforted Gabe, who was in hysterics.

 “There’s going to be hall monitors coming soon, we need to go somewhere hidden.” Gabe looked up at me.

_ “Ay dios mio, tu ojo!”  _ Josh looked over at me.

 “Wow, they nailed you good, right in the eye.”

 “That’s not important now. Let’s go downstairs, we won’t get caught down there.” Josh nodded, helping Gabe to his feet.

 “Yeah, good idea.”

 “Do you need help walking?” I asked Gabe. He shook his head.

 “N-No… they just came out of nowhere. I was walking to class after seeing William, and then they-” He broke off into sobs again.

 “Hey, shh. They’re not going to hurt you again, we’ll all make sure of it.” Josh reassured.

 “Yeah, next time they go after anyone again, we’ll make them pay.” He smiled up at us.

 “T-Thank you. Not many have come to help me before when this happened at the other schools, but you’re different.”

 “Well you’re human too. If the blacks can gather for civil rights, so should you. Everyone should be treated the same.” Josh said.

 “Yeah we’re all the same. It isn’t right.” I added.

 “You’re both really kind. It’s too bad others don’t share your views.”

 “It really is. Here- Tyler was about to practice for the talent show, fancy a little music? It’d help relax you.” Josh smiled over at me as we walked into the music room downstairs.

 “Yeah, Pete talks a lot about you being talented, so I’d like to hear it.” He smiled slightly while sitting down beside Josh on the floor in front of the piano. I sat down in front of the piano and started playing a gentle melody. It was wordless, so I just focused on playing the right notes. I looked up when I finished the song, Gabe and Josh clapping.

 “That was very good!” Gabe smiled.

 “Thanks, I-I normally do stuff with words, but I figured that would be the most relaxing so… yeah.” I smiled back.

 “Didn’t I tell you? He’s got the talent of a million people, all in one.” I blushed.

 “Thanks, Josh. I suppose I should practice the song I’m gonna be playing now, right?”

 “Well it’s up to you. Maybe we could go back upstairs and just hang out for a while. It should be clear by now.” I nodded.

 “Okay, we can do that.” I smiled and followed him up. He pulled me closer and kissed me quickly before going back to the level.

 “We can’t exactly do that up here. Had to get out of my system, y’know?” He grinned.

 “Yeah, whatever you say. I know it’s just because you wanted to.”

 “Of course I do- I always do. You’re a really good kisser.” I smiled, blushing slightly.

 “Well so are you.”

 “Will you two lovebirds quit it? I don’t think you want  _ them  _ hearing you.” Gabe joked, gesturing to Brendon and Pete.

 

       “Hey, where the fuck have you three been?” Brendon asked.

 “Um, hiding.” I replied, brushing spiderwebs off my clothes.

 “Hiding? From what?” Pete asked.

 “Well, we all got in a fight…” Josh replied, smiling slightly. Brendon’s eyes widened.

 “Really? Even Tyler?”

 “Yeah, he really beat the crap out of that guy!” Pete chuckled while high-fiving me.

 “Nice! So why were you guys beating people up?”

 “”Cause they beat up Gabe. We couldn’t let them get away with it.” I replied nonchalantly.

 “They did  _ what _ !? Oh hell no!” Brendon yelled.

 “Easy, Bren. We don’t need all of us getting in trouble.”

 “But they fucking- so we’re just going to stand here and let them think that’s okay to do!?”

 “No way. Me and Josh are trying out for the team. If we make it on, we can make sure their time there is hell.” I smirked.

 “Well you’re obviously going to make the team. It’s me we have to worry about.” I rolled my eyes.

 “Nonsense, you’ll do fine!” Pete smiled.

 “I like it, it’s subtle! Definitely a good way to get back at them! Since, you know, we can’t exactly call them out on it.” 

 “Yeah. It’s a good idea. I’d rather beat the stuffing out of them, but your idea’s cool too.” Brendon replied.

 “Alright then, sounds like we have an attack plan.” Gabe commented.

 “Yeah we do. Well, we should probably go practice for tryouts now.” I replied before going to leave with Josh.

 “Hey, Tyler! Stick back here a while, will you?” Pete called.

 “Go on ahead, I’ll catch up with you later.” I told Josh before going back.

 “We-um… We wanted to apologize for earlier this year. We all do.”

 “Yeah, we were little shits!” Brendon joked.

 “We did what you did to us- judged you by appearance and reputation. It’s really fucked up, but we hope you can forgive us.” I smiled.

 “Already done.” They smiled before starting to whisper to each other.

 “Give it to him now!” Gabe hissed. Brendon dug through his bag and pulled out another leather jacket.

 “You wanna be a greaser? Gotta look the part after all.” He smiled. I took the jacket from him and slipped it on.

 “Man, that thing fits like a glove!” Pete cheered.

 “Work it, dude!” Gabe smiled.

 “Thank you guys, so much. This really means a lot to me.” I smiled back.

 “No problem. Now go over there to Josh! You don’t want to keep him waiting, do you?” My smile grew.

 “Not at all. I’ll see you guys later!”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for really cute fluff, abuse, and sexual stuff (basically they just make out). Stay safe guys and enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got to see Suicide Squad today and somehow I managed to never see an ad for it, like the only thing I've seen having to do with it is stuff about Jared Leto as The Joker and the Heathens video, but it was so good! Like seriously it was awesome! I don't usually like DC movies (mostly because I don't like superman all that much unless it's got to do with the ride at the six flags a few hours from where I live. And I've never seen a Batman movie to say whether I like his character or not) but it was good! And I had a bit of a loud fangirl moment when Heathens played in the end credits

***Tyler***

      After a long, grueling practice (we started early so we could end a little earlier), Josh took me out for something to drink at the soda shop.

 “Are you sure, Josh? I could pay, or-”

 “No, I want to treat you. I’m loving the new jacket, by the way.” I smiled.

 “Thanks. It feels just as natural as my own skin.” He smiled back.

 “Good. So what are you in the mood for?”

 “Hm… something chocolate.”

 “A milkshake, maybe?” I shrugged.

 “Sure that sounds good.” He smiled and ordered for us at the front before we sat in a booth.

 “So… what are the tryouts usually like?” I shrugged.

 “Mostly just some shooting practice- see if you can actually shoot baskets- and then the coach puts different people into groups to play against each other, and then whoever does the best gets chosen for the team.” He nodded.

 “And you usually do good?”

 “I have to. It’d be kind of embarrassing for my dad if his son trys out and doesn’t even make it.”

 “So your dad’s the coach?” I sighed.

 “Yeah, that’s why basketball is so important- was so important- to me.”

 “It’s not anymore?”

 “Well to some extent it still is, because it’s what my family wants from me. I don’t want to disappoint them, but I don’t really want to do it anymore. I didn’t really get to do much of anything else before, and now I have more options. And I want to take them.” I smiled slightly.

 “You always had options, they just never let you see them. All that’s happened now is you’re realizing that.” I nodded. A waitress came by with our order. Josh grabbed the cherry off the top of the whipped cream.

 “Hey!” He looked over while plucking the fruit off its stem with his teeth.

 “What? I like the cherries.”

 “But you didn’t have to take it! You could’ve asked.” I pouted.

 “Well there’s no getting it back now, since I just ate it.”

 “I know you did, I saw you do it!”

 “Is it really that big of a deal to you? I’ll buy you a whole jar of cherries, happy?”

 “It’s not about the cherry!” I giggled.

 “Then what is it about?” He smiled bemused.

 “You not asking for the cherry!” He scoffed.

 “Now you're just being ridiculous! I'll ask next time, okay?” I smiled.

 “Thank you.” He rolled his eyes.

 “Whatever, if it really means that much to you.”

 “It does! Tough guy or not, manners are important! They show respect!”

 “You know I only act like that for you!” He whined.

 “Then do it for me to everyone?” He sighed.

 “I can't say no to you… especially when you look like that.” He smirked slightly as I blushed.

 “Like what? Did I get something on me?”

 “Yeah, it's right… there. Other than the cuteness you got all over you already.” He smiled after dipping his finger in the whipped cream and dabbing it on my nose.

 “Hey!” He giggled.

 “What?”

 “Don't ‘what' me, you know what you did!”

 “What did I do then?” He stifled more laughter.

 “You got whipped cream on me!” He burst into laughter.

 “I don’t see how this is funny.” I pouted.

 “Aw, sorry, do you want me to get it off you?” He reached over and wiped it off.

 “Thank you.” I grinned before dipping my finger in the whipped cream and dragging it above his lip so it looked like a mustache.

 “Hey! What was that for?”

 “For doing it to me first. Besides, I think it makes you look much more mature- a nice manly mustache.” I said before laughing.

 “Oh, I see how it is.” He smirked.

 “How is it then?” He put more whipped cream on his fingertip and dragged it across my lips to my cheeks in a smile.

 “Because you’re always such a happy boy.” I giggled and drew a smile on his face on his face in whipped cream.

 “Two happy boys.” We burst out laughing before using the rest of the whipped  cream to draw on each other’s faces. He stared up at me across the table when we ran out, licking his lips.

 “We should probably start heading home.” I nodded, following his lead outside. I started wiping the whipped cream off my nose and forehead as we walked. Josh moved closer and started licking the rest off my cheeks, slowly moving in towards my lips. I blushed bright red as he finished.

 “You taste sweet.” He smiled. I glared playfully.

 “What? You wanna taste?” He gestured to his stubbly cheek covered in whipped cream. I smiled and continued walking towards my house.

 “Tyler, wait! I’m sorry if I-”

 “Why are you sorry?”

 “Well I was going to say until you interrupted me!”

 “Sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong, I just like messing with you.” I giggled.

 “Tyler! I was really worried you were mad!” He whined. I hugged him from the side.

 “I’m sorry. Here, let me make it up to you.” I kissed him gently, cleaning the whipped cream off his lips with my tongue. I moved away and wiped the rest off his cheeks with thumb.

 “All better?” He nodded.

 “Yeah.” I smiled and started walking to his house, stopping a block away as usual. His smile faded slightly.

 “Well, see you tomorrow.” i hugged him before he started walking away.

 “I love you. Tell me if anything happens tomorrow.” He stopped, turning to look at me.

 “What- why?”

 “Because I worry about you, and want to know you’re safe?” He sighed.

 “Alright. I’ll tell you if anything happens.” I smiled slightly.

 “Thanks. See you tomorrow!” I waved before walking back to my house.

***Josh***

      “Oh, look who’s finally back!” My dad slurred from where he was sitting in the front room.

 “I-I’m sorry. I’m not late today though, am-” My dad tsked after smacking me across the face.

 “You never- what the hell is that?” He poked the area between my eyebrows, wiping more whipped cream off my face.

 “...Nothing?” I replied, hoping he’d just leave it. He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me down to the ground.

 “Don’t you fucking lie to me, what the hell is it!?”

 “N-Nothing, I swear!” I felt my heart racing, closing my eyes to brace for impact when he kicked me. He didn’t though. Instead, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me down to the basement.

 “Whatever. Lie to me all you want, I’ll find out. Until then, I want you working. We have lots of people waiting, and Taylor walked out.” I nodded, watching hopelessly as he shut me inside, going around to the backyard to manage the money and lineup of people.

      I woke up late the next morning, getting ready quickly. I stopped and stared wide-eyed in horror at the purplish- red mark shaped like a hand across my cheek from my dad. I sighed hearing Tyler’s voice in my head.

  _“Tell me if anything happens. I wanna know you’re safe.”_ I sighed. I didn’t want to tell him, he would freak out. But this one I couldn’t make any excuses about, because it was obvious. And if I told him, the others would know too. I wasn’t ready for anyone to know, they might try to do something drastic. But ready or not, it was bound to happen since they all first started asking about it. I walked out and got on the bus- a new habit of mine since hanging out with Tyler. I walked to the back, my head low.

 “Hey, Josh!” Tyler greeted. I smiled slightly and sat down by him, keeping my eyes to the ground.

 “Hey.”

 “Is something wrong?” I shook my head.

 “No, nothing’s wrong.”

 “Then why won’t you look at me?”

 “Because.” He scoffed.

 “That’s not a reason. Now come on, I guarantee the floor isn’t as interesting as the day you’re missing by staring at it.” He reached over and started lifting my chin.

 “Tyler, no. I-” He froze and gasped. Anger and sadness swirled in his eyes as he placed his hand gently on the mark before bringing it down in a tightly clenched fist.

 “What happened?”

 “I-It’s really nothing, just-”

 “What. Happened?” His voice came out strained, and a lot more gruff than usual.

 “N-Nothing! It was just-” He gently grabbed onto my hand. I flinched before noticing the calmness in his demeanor. I relaxed a bit before starting to cry.

 “Oh Josh…” He soothed me, walking me to the bleachers under a cloudy sky. I sat down, breaking down while he held me.

 “H-He asked about the whipped cream, ‘cause there was still some on my face. And w-when I-I wou-wouldn’t tell him…” He held me closer.

 “Does he do stuff like that to you regularly?” I stayed still before nodding slowly.

 “A lo-lot of the times you asked, a-and I made up excuses for it, i-it was really hi-him.” He tensed up again.

 “Do-Don’t tell anyone, please. They might take him away, o-or-”

 “It’s what he deserves, Josh! That’s child abuse! You have to report that.”

 “B-But then he’ll find out! And th-then i-it’ll only get worse.” He sighed.

 “Josh, it has to be done. The sooner it does, the sooner this stops.”

 “I know, b-but it won’t stop them.” He stared up at me.

 “‘Them’? Who’s them?”

 “N-No one…”

 “Josh. You need to tell someone what’s going on, at least me. I promise I won’t tell anyone else without your permission. Please, just tell me.” I sighed.

 “T-The people from my dad’s business. They’re really bad people, the business itself is just bad.”

 “What does his business focus in?” I sighed.

 “U-Um, sex… people pay him for sex. With me. There was also his old secretary from his old job, but she just quit.”

 “Josh, that’s prostitution! That’s illegal- he can’t do that!”

 “But he has, for a long time.” He looked up at me, anger written all over his face.

 “None of this okay, Josh. Nothing about this is- why didn’t you say anything before!?”

 “I-I was afraid! If someone found out, they’d tell others, and then he’d find out that I told. I was never supposed to tell anyone, not even my mom knows! She thinks I’m down there all night with a ‘private tutor’.”

 “I hate to sound rude, but how dumb is your mom? Doesn’t she hear any of that!?”

 “No, he got the basement soundproofed for that reason.” He huffed.

 “We have to do something, this is- this is ridiculous! Why would you live with it for so long!?”

 “H-He said it was my fault he lost his job, I took up too much of his time. He was drinking really late one night, a-and then he-” I stopped, cringing from the awful memories.

 “What did he do?” Tyler asked very seriously.

 “H-He… he did bad things to me- like what the other men do- a-and then said that people would pay for that, a- and that I could make it up to him I-I didn’t want to let him down anymore than I already did. And then his assistant Taylor was already there because he would- y’know- during work. He used to just sell photos, but the people said they’d pay more to actually do it.” He stiffened.

 “He did _what_ to you? Josh, I-I’m- your dad is- he’s a monster! You can’t live with that!”

 “I-I would’ve told my mom, or the other guys, b-but then they would confront him about it or call someone.” He sighed.

 “Josh, he’s bad! Something has to be done!”

 “I know, but can we wait and think about it?”

 “We can’t! It might get worse- he might hospitalize you! Or kill you, Josh!”

 “You don’t think I haven’t already thought of that!? He’s gotten so close to breaking something, or holding just a little too long when he chokes me, but-”

 “He chokes you!? That’s an attempt on your life, he’s tried _killing you_!”

 “I know! He’ll do worse though if he finds out I told you…” He huffed.

 “Okay, fine. I won’t tell anyone. But don’t think that I’m just going to watch as this happens to you. I’m going to find some other way to stop it, because this is wrong.” I breathed out a breath I was holding.

 “Thank you, thank you Tyler.” He held onto me.

 “I think this warrants another day out of class.” I chuckled.

 “Yeah. Listen, if they ask-”

 “I won’t give any details without your permission, but if you don’t tell them I will. They’re our friends, and they deserve to know too.” I nodded.

 “Okay.”

 “Well, that got really dark. How about we try to make it better?” I looked up at him.

 “How?”

 “Well, you still have that key? I can play for you, since you really like that.” I smiled slightly.

 “Okay, that would help. Besides, you can practice then.” He nodded.

 “Yeah, so do you have the key to downstairs?” I tugged on a chain around my neck, the key dangling on it.

 “Yep, I wanted to make sure I didn’t lose it for you.” He smiled back.

 “Cool. Let’s get going now, while it’s in between classes.” He moved closer to me, holding his jacket close.

 “Are you cold?” He shrugged.

 “A little. It’s getting close to winter after all. But we’ll be inside soon, so don’t worry.” I nodded, following him to the downstairs again. He stopped when Brendon and Pete walked up.

      “Hey, seems like we all had the same idea! Spying on Gabe and William too?” Brendon snickered.

 “What- no! I didn’t even know they were down there, we were just going to the music room.” Tyler replied.

 “Yeah, I’m gonna listen to him practice.” I smiled.

 “Hey, you’re not special compared to the rest of us! I wanna hear too!” Brendon pouted.

 “I am special! I’m his _special_ friend, so I get special treatment.” I winked at Tyler, wrapping one of my arms around his waist.

 “Oh whatever! I didn’t mean that kind of special!” Tyler laughed slightly.

 “It’s alright if they want to hear, you don’t have to act all protective.” He smiled up at me.

 “Alright then, looks like we’re all going down.” I turned around and started walking downstairs, thankful for the lighting being dim in the furnace room. When we walked into the music room, the bright fluorescent lights flickered on. I sat towards the back, trying to stay slightly hidden.

 “Well, let’s hear what you go decided for the show.” He looked over at me expectantly.

 “Actually, Josh chose this one. Also, I might need someone to turn the pages for me.” I sighed softly before walking over and standing beside him.

 “I got it.”

 “Yeah, and it looks like someone else got you.” Brendon said, pointing out the mark across my face. Pete elbowed him in the ribs.

 “Dude, wait until he finishes playing! Then ask about it!” He hissed. Tyler smiled slightly and started playing. He began singing after a gentle intro.

_“Night falls, with gravity. The earth turns, from sanity. Taking my only friend I know, he leaves a lot, his name is "Hope"._

_“I'm never what I like, I'm double sided, and I just can't hide, I kind of like it when I make you cry,_

_“'Cause I'm twisted up, I'm twisted up inside._

_“The horrors of the night melt away, under the warm glow of survival of the day. Then we move on, My shadow grows taller, along with my fears, And my frame shrinks smaller as night grows near._

_“When the sun is climbing window sills, And the silver lining rides the hills. I will be saved for one whole day, until the sun makes the hills its grave._

_“I'm never what I like,I'm double sided. And I just can't hide,I kind of like it when I make you cry. 'Cause I'm twisted up, I'm twisted up inside._

_“I'm never what I like,I'm double sided, and I just can't hide,I kind of like it when I make you cry,'Cause I'm twisted up, I'm twisted up inside my mind._

_“Doo, Doo, doo, doo-doo-doo... Doo._

_“I'm semi-automatic, my prayer's schizophrenic, But I'll live on, yeah I'll live on, yeah I'll live on._

_“By the time the night wears off, The dust is down and shadows burn. I will rise and stand my ground,Waiting for the night's return._

_“I'm never what I like,I'm double sided. And I just can't hide ,I kind of like it when I make you cry. 'Cause I'm twisted up, I'm twisted up inside._

_“I'm never what I like,I'm double sided. And I just can't hide ,I kind of like it when I make you cry.,'Cause I'm twisted up, I'm twisted up inside my mind._

_Doo, doo, doo, doo-doo-doo… Doo.”_ He played a gentle chord to finish off the song after his vocals ended. We all clapped after.

  “Dude you _so_ got that win in the bag with this!” Brendon smiled.

 “Win?”

 “Yeah, they’re making it a competition this year, first prize is gonna get the chance of being scouted by some local radio stations!”

 “Really? So if I win, they’ll play me on the radio?”

 “Yeah, they said you’ll record a few tracks in their studio, and they’ll sell it on 45s and play it on the radio!”

 “Wow… I could get famous from this.” He smiled starry-eyed.

 “Yeah, it’s exactly what you want!” I smiled. “You’ll finally get to make music for a living instead of basketball.” He smiled back.

 “Yeah…. What were you saying before, Bren? About Josh.” I glanced over at him, worry written all over my face.

 “I don’t really remember, your awesome song distracted me.” I sighed in relief.

 “I remember though- what the fuck happened to your face?” Pete commented. I looked over at Tyler, his stance stiff and his expression dark.

 “Oh shit, are you two fighting? You look pissed, Tyler!” Brendon stated.

 “No, I would never! He replied. “Even if we were arguing, I’d never lay a hand on him that could harm him!”

 “So then, why does it look like you got smacked around real good?” I looked over at Tyler, worry creating knots in my stomach and a lump in my throat. I tried to talk, but the words got stuck.

 “Do you want me to?” I sighed and nodded, sitting next to him on the bench and resting my head on the piano. I didn’t want to see how they might react, already expecting the worst.

 “Tell them all of it.” He laid a hand on my back reassuringly, though it felt protective more than anything.

 “Josh’s home life is- well… his dad’s abusive.”

 “His dad’s _what_?!” Brendon replied almost immediately.

 “Dude, isn’t that illegal or some shit? We gotta tell someone!” I shot upright immediately.

 “No, please don’t! What if he finds out?”

 “That’s not all of it either. He’s doing a lot worse than just beating him up.” Tyler continued.

 “Wait there’s _worse_ going on? Josh- why didn’t you say something?” Pete replied.

 “Because I didn’t-”

 “What’s ‘worse’?” Brendon asked.

 “U-Um, he’s… he’s choked me before- which Tyler said is attempting to kill me-”

 “Because it is!” Pete interrupted.

 “And he makes me help him at work, but his business is apparently ‘illegal’-”

 “It is though! Prostitution is illegal! It has been for years!”

 “He prostitutes you!? That is so wrong! We have to do something, Josh!” Gabe walked in, kissing William on the cheek before leaving for class.

 “Are you all having some kind of meeting without me? Why wasn’t I invited!?”

 “‘Cause you were busy!” Brendon snickered. Pete smacked him on the shoulder.

 “Cut it out, this is serious!” Gabe sat down on the floor by them.

 “Whoa, what happened to you, Josh?”

 “Exactly what we’re talking about right now- it’s his dad, he’s doing all this abusive and illegal shit to him, and Josh won’t let us do anything about it!”

 “Well I can take it if it’s just me! If he finds out I told you, or you told anyone else, he might go after you guys! He’s a raging alcoholic, there’s no telling what he’ll do!”

 “Oh, and he drinks too. Your dad sounds _swell_ , Josh!” Pete replied sarcastically while rolling his eyes.

 “They’re right, Josh. We have to do something.” Tyler said softly wrapping his arms around me.

 “I-I know! But what can we do without involving authorities?”

 “Probably nothing.” Gabe sighed. Pete lit up.

 “No, we can definitely do something. I know exactly what to do!”

 “Well don’t keep us waiting.” Brendon replied.

 “Hey, don’t get snarky with me!”

 “Guys! Not now!” Tyler shouted.

 “Right. We gotta catch him in the act- and make it seem like an accident that we saw him. If he knows there’s people watching, he might be a little more careful. And not do it as much.”

 “Well, that seems very unlikely to work. Eh, what the hell, let’s give it a go.” Brendon replied.

 “Yeah, I walk him home after practices, I can go all the way to his house this time.”

 “You’ve never been by his house, and you walk him home like every night?”

 “I never let him…” I mumbled absently.

 “Hey, it’s alright, we’re gonna help put an end to this.” He wrapped his arms around me.

 “But what happens when it does end? What then?”

 “Well… I don’t know. None of do, we don’t have all the answers. I guess that’s just up to you.” I nodded.

 “Okay. Well, I guess that settles that.”

 “We’re all here for you, dude. If anything happens, don’t be afraid to tell us.” Pete said reassuringly.

 “Yeah, what would we all do without our little ray of _Dunshine_?” Brendon laughed while the rest of us groaned.

 “Dude, that was so bad!” Gabe groaned.

 “Well excuse me for trying to lighten the mood! Let’s get out of here and go get lunch or something. You two coming along, or are you gonna practice more?”

 “Yeah, we’re coming!” I replied for Tyler and I, smiling something.

 

     After hanging out with Pete, Brendon, and Gabe at lunch, Tyler and I went back downstairs so he could practice some more.

 “I think you had it down pretty good earlier.”

 “Yeah, but that was my first time playing it in weeks- months maybe! I can't be that unprepared  for the show!” I nodded.

 “Alright then. The show’s in about two weeks, so we better get started then.” He sighed.

 “These next few weeks are going to be really busy…” He started playing, intensely focused. His brow furrowed as he continued through different parts of the song, playing some repeatedly as he continued to try and get them right. To me it sounded perfect already and it was interesting to see how his slender fingers moved across the keys like an intricate and well- rehearsed. He poked his tongue out of the side of his mouth as focused on hitting the right keys. When he relaxed through parts he knew well, he would close his eyes as his fingers played from melody. He was absolutely mesmerizing to watch play, completely lost to the world in his own world.

 “Josh? Josh, are you even listening to me?” He snapped his finger by my face, bringing me back to attention.

 “What were you saying?” I smiled up at him, completely dazed still. He laughed slightly.

 “If you’d like to get off cloud nine for a moment, I need a second opinion.” I blushed slightly, looking over at him.

 “Okay, what do you need an opinion on? I might have one of those.” He smiled.

 “I need you to tell me how the verse sounds, it was so sloppy before.” I nodded, listening to him play. When he finished, he looked over at me.

 “I think it sounded great every time you’ve played it, but that one definitely flowed a lot better.” He smiled.

 “That’s what I was looking for. Come on, we should get going. School’s about to end, and we need to practice for tryouts still.” I followed him up.

 “You made a lot of progress though, so that’s good.”

 “Yeah, it is.” He smiled pulling me along with him. We walked out to the upper level of the school and to the blacktop. Tyler groaned win he was the rain.

 “Well, there goes practice. What else do you want to do?”

 “Wait, we're not just going to go home early?” He scoffed.

 “No way in hell I'm gonna let you go back there early.” I sighed.

 “He always complains about me being late. Maybe if I-”

 “I want you to understand something, okay? None of this is your fault. None of it. There is nothing you can do to make it better or worse, and absolutely nothing you've done has caused it. This is not your fault, got that?” I nodded.

 “Yeah, but he said-”

 “Josh! Your dad is a drunken lunatic! I'm surprised he can get his act together enough to pose like a loving father at church on Sundays! Don't believe a word he says, promise me you won’t.”

 “Okay, I promise.” I sighed.

 “Good. Now let's go do something fun for a while, okay?” He smiled while pulling me along with him.

 “What are we gonna do?” He smiled.

 “Something fun.”

 “Yeah, but what?” I smiled slightly. He giggled.

 “It's a surprise for you!”

 “You haven't thought of something yet, have you?” He huffed.

 “No! That is _not_ why it's a surprise!” He stared at the ground before his eyes lit up when he looked up at me.

 “I know what we can do. Come on, it’s gonna be so nice right now!” He pulled me along by the wrist, practically running from the school. Thunder sounded in the distance as the storm grew in intensity.

 “Where are we going?”

 “What part of ‘surprise’ didn’t you get? Come on, I go here a lot during the summer or I just want to be by myself to think for a while, it gets such a good view of the storm!” He said while pulling me along to an empty field, rain pouring down across it in torrential downpour. The grass stood out vibrantly green against the dark storm clouds.

 “Wow… it’s so beautiful here.” Lightning flashed across the sky like veins pulsing.

 “Didn’t I say? And this is a really big storm too, so it’s even better!” He ran into the field and started screaming different words out as if they were a language only he knew while dancing. I laughed and watched for a moment..

 “Come on, it’s not as fun with you standing there like a bump on a log!” He smiled while lacing our hands together before running into the field. He started twirling around with me, the two of us dancing to a song only he knew.

 “Hands held higher! We’ll be on fire! Singing songs that nobody wrote!” He yelled out over the rain and booming thunder.

 “What does that even mean?” I yelled back.

 “I don’t know! ‘S weird, like there’s a stomach in my brain that eats emotions up!” He smiled while we danced along. I joined in yelling with him over the storm until he grew tired and sat down in the middle of the field, his eyes closed with a serene look on his face. I laced our hands together before reaching over and kissing him. His lips spread into a smile while kissing me back tenderly. His hands moved down my chest, stopping to wrap around me at my waist. I moved closer, falling on top of him. He giggled, staring up at me happily.

 “Ow! Josh!” I smiled sheepishly, my face tinted red.

 “Sorry…” He smiled fondly while running his fingers through my hair.

 “The dye in your hair is starting to fade.” I grimaced when his fingers got snagged on tangles.

 “Ouch! Careful!” He leaned up and pecked my lips.

 “Sorry."

  "It's alright. I was thinking about dying it again soon.”

 “What color?”

 “Either green or blue.” He smiled softly.

 “Go with the blue, it’d complement your eyes well.” I smiled back, leaning in closer.

 “Okay. Blue it is.” I pressed my lips to his again, one of his hands cupping my jaw while pressing closer.

 “I love you so much, Josh.” I smiled against his lips pulling away ever so slightly, our noses touching.

 “I love you too, baby.” He hummed softly before closing the gap between us. He moved slowly, but with a hunger that wasn’t there before.

 “You like that? You like me calling you my baby?”

 “God yes, I love it.” He rolled his hips into mine. I moaned softly, gliding my hands down his chest. I licked his bottom lip before sucking and nibbling on it. He gripped tighter onto his shirt, pulling him closer. He broke away and looked towards the side when someone cleared their throat. A small girl, probably about ten or so, stood nearby, her eyes wide.

 “Maddy, I-I-” Tyler shifted away. I looked back at him confused, and then back at her.

 “I was just… she trailed on before running away.

 “Maddy, wait!” He got up and ran after her, leaving me dumbfounded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJzrny_tSJs Here's a really beautiful sounding piano cover of Semi-Automatic if you wanna hear what inspired me for that part of this story! Like it's _so_ good! I wished I played half as decent as this, but I can barely manage Goner and Blasphemy off No Phun Intended on a good day. I've been trying to teach myself Johnny Boy and Taxi Cab for who knows how long and just haven't gotten them lol


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: Smutty smut smut ~~whoo-ha we're all going to hell but at least I won't be cold all the time there and I'll actually have friends~~ , and some.. is it verbal abuse? Idk what to call it but it's like Tyler's parents being mean to him and it could possibly be triggering if you're sensitive to that. Stay safe and enjoy guys :) |-/

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my buddies my frens I apologize for the late update I was feeling really bad like really _really_ bad and then to top it off I had to stay at ~~hell~~ school late for show choir meetings and the strangest coincidence our fundraiser this year for the concert is Grease like I didn't plan that I swear. But if I hear "act cute!" or some other comment about facials again I swear to the lord I will lose my self control. I have a potato face with resting bitch face syndrome I caNNOT DO CUTE I DO EITHER UGLY OR ABOUT TO KILL A GUY NOT CUTE. But yeah enjoy the chapter guys!

***Tyler***

“Maddy!” I ran after my sister, finally catching up to her. She stopped and stared up at me confused.

 “Who was that? What were you doing?” I caught my breath before answering her.

 “It’s Josh, he’s a good friend of mine. Listen you _can’t_ tell anyone about what you saw, okay? Not mom, or dad, or anybody else. Got it?”

 “But why?”

 “You just can’t bad things will happen, worse than there already is.”

 “You mean like how mom and dad got when they saw your jacket?”

 “Exactly, it’ll be like that.” I grimaced, remembering the stern conversation my parents had with me the night I came home with the leather jacket on. It didn’t end well.

 “Okay. But what if-”

 “ _Nobody_ is to know about this for _any reason_. Please Maddy?” She sighed.

 “Okay. I don't like keeping secrets…”

 “I know, just- just pretend this never happened, like you never saw it. Then it's not keeping a secret, because it didn't happen.” I smiled slightly.

 “Alright. I'll see you tonight then.” She started walking off before I ran back to Josh.

 “Baby, who was that?” I smiled softly before laying down next to him on the grass.

 “My sister Madison. I had to make sure she wouldn't tell about us.” He nodded while running his hands down my sides.

 “So, where were we?” He licked his lips eagerly while moving closer.

 “I- I think we were kissing…”

 “I wanna hear you tell me _exactly_ what was happening before. I wanna hear you say it.” He whispered, his voice deep.

 “I-I- um, we were kissing, and you were biting down on my lip. And I was touching you while-” I shuddered when his hands slid down my chest, sliding down to under my shirt

 “Keep going.” He smirked. I bucked my hips up into his.

 “And I did this will you called me your baby, and- _God, Josh!”_ I moaned when rolled his hips into me.

 “I don't remember that part, babe. But I think we can work it in there.” He smirked while leaning in close and kissing me again, slipping his tongue into my mouth. I wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him closer while our crotches rubbed against each other, earning a throaty moan from him.

 “You’re so dirty for me, I love it.” He started pulling my jacket off and my shirt over my head.

 “Josh, I don’t think we should do this in an empty field…” He blushed before moving next to me.

 “Right. S-Sorry, it just felt like we were… somewhere else.” He chuckled.

 “That doesn’t mean we can’t find somewhere. I certainly don’t want to cut you off and leave you hanging.” I smiled while palming his crotch. His breath hitched as I continued.

 “Yeah, I don’t want this to end yet.” I nodded.

 “So let’s go find somewhere we can without anyone else finding us.” He grabbed my hand while I helped him up. We walked close, with our shoulders touching instead of holding hands.

 “The real question is where.”

 “I have no clue where to even start to look.” I laughed slightly, running a hand through my hair.

 “I think I have an idea- one of the people down the block from my house just moved out, but they haven’t put the house for sale yet. Which means it should be empty.”

 “Wouldn’t that be breaking and entering?” I smiled mischievously. He scoffed.

 “We’ll be in and out of there. Besides, we’re not taking anything.” I nodded.

 “Well, it’s worth a look into. Let’s do it.” He smiled.

 “Alright! Let’s go!”

  

  We got to the house after a few minutes of walking. The house was in poor condition- cracked windowpanes covered in layers of grime, peeling paint covered in dirt, the doorknob was broken off, and it looked like a lot of some of the things that were in there before were spread out on the front lawn.

 “Is this the right place? It seems pretty bad off.”

 “Yeah. It’s not great, but it’s somewhere. Let’s go inside.” He smiled at me while wiggling his eyebrows. I laughed and followed him inside.

 “Well, the inside looks a little better.” The carpet looked to be in okay condition, with the only place that was noticeably dirty being the white walls.

 “Yeah. Counters look alright. I wonder if they left a mattress or something in one of the bedrooms.” I scoffed.

 “It would’ve probably been in the front lawn.” He laughed slightly.

 “Hey, you never know. Besides, do you _really_ want to do it on the floor?”

 “Well I don’t think it matters all that much, but if you think it does we can look.” He walked up the stairs, wiping dust off the banister and hand-rail as he went. I followed him up, the upstairs looking a lot better.

 “Wow. It looks a lot better up here.”

 “Yeah, I’ll say. I don’t doubt there’s a bed or something here now.” He looked through each of the rooms.

 “Jooosh, I wanna do something now!” I whined after waiting when he disappeared into one of the rooms. I huffed and walked in, seeing him stripping while humming to himself. I blushed while standing slack-jawed in the doorway. He smirked and walked over, his pupils dilated.

 “Well I’m all ready. We’re just waiting on you, baby.” His voice was deep and almost like a growl, leaving my head reeling.

 “O-Okay…” I started pulling my clothes off while Josh stared intently from where he sat cross-legged on the bed (that he had found).

 “Mm, such pretty skin. I can’t wait to make it all mine.” He purred. I felt myself flush even more while fumbling with the button on my pants.

 “Am I making my pretty little baby turned on? You are _so bad_ for me, and I love every second of it.” He smirked as I stared back at him doe-eyed.

 “I-I can’t-” I trailed off while struggling to keep a level head long enough to take my jeans off.

 “Do you need some help? I think I’ll be able to help…” He stood up and strode over, wrapping his arms around from behind me and  undoing the button. He hummed deeply while I shuddered under his touch.

 “Does that feel good? Does it feel nice when I run my hands down your sexy chest like this? Or when bring them close at your hips? Does it feel good to be gripped tightly by me and fucked completely senseless? With every inch of your skin bruised and claimed as my own?” I moaned as his hands trailed down my body to where my pants rested at my hips.

 “Oh God Josh- _please_ -” I breathlessly moaned as he pulled my pants down, bringing his lips down to the crook of my neck. I yelped when he bit down and started sucking a mark.

 “You like that, baby? I can give you more.”

 “Y-Yes Josh- _yes!”_ I groaned as he rolled his hips into me, grinding into my back.

 “Turn around. I wanna see you when you scream my name.” I turned to face him as he pulled me down on the bed. He ran his hands down my chest lovingly before trailing kisses down my sternum. I squirmed under him as he moved to my nipples, his tongue swirling around them.

 “ _Ah- Josh!”_ I moaned out as he continued down to my stomach, biting and sucking marks across the soft flesh. He licked a stripe down my torso, stopping just above my aching hard- on. His hungry eyes met mine before moved lower to my thighs. He bit down on the soft skin at the inside. I yelped while my nails dug crescent-shaped marks on his shoulders. He groaned and grinded his hips into mine.

 “Oh, Tyler-” He sloppily kissed me, slipping his tongue inside my mouth.

 “More Josh- Need more…” He pulled away, a devious smile on his lips.

 “You want more? I’ll give you a lot more.” He moved closer rolled me onto my stomach.

 “Get on your hands and knees, baby.” I obliged, adrenaline and anticipation coursing through my veins. I screamed when he stuck a finger inside me and started moving it.

 “Josh!” He pressed soft kisses against my back and shoulders.

 “Relax, baby. It’ll feel much better if you just relax….” He moved another finger inside me.

 “B-But it hurts!” He slowed down and moved in closer, hitting my prostate.

 “Do you want me to stop?”

 “ _Ah!_ No, G-God no! Do that again!” He smirked softly and continued, moving at a slower pace. He started moving a little faster when he put another finger in. I moaned loudly while the pain faded away as he continued. He pulled his hand out, making me whine.

 “Don’t get impatient, I’m not done yet.” He lined up with my entrance before thrusting into me.

 “Josh!” He brought his hands up to my shoulders and started rubbing them lovingly while kissing down my neck.

 “Tell me if it’s too much, I don’t wanna hurt you.” I grunted when he shifted.

“You forget we’ve done this before- a while back.”

 “Of course I forget- I was drunk then, if you remember.” He started moving, bringing some of the pain back. I groaned throatily while balling my hands into fists. He ran his fingers through my hair, keeping a steady pace. I moaned louder as he started going faster, hitting my prostate with each thrust.

 “J-Josh- I’m close…” He leaned in closer, his warm breath against my ear.

 “Come for me, baby.” He started kissing the crook of my neck and sucking marks as I screamed while coming. His thrusts began to get a lot sloppier as he got close and comed inside me. After, he pulled out and laid beside me, panting.

 “Wow… that was awesome.” I giggled while leaning over and pressing my lips to his cheek.

 “Hell yeah it was! We better get cleaned up and home though, it looks like it’s starting to get late.” I sighed and sat up.

 “I  really wish you didn’t have to…” He grabbed our clothes off the floor.

 “I’ll go see if there’s anything to clean up with in the bathroom.” He walked off down the hall, followed by the sound of running water before he came back with a wet washcloth.

 “Looks like you found something.” He smiled.

 “Sure did. Come here, let me clean you up, love.” I smiled back and crawled across the bed towards him.

 “I love all the names you give me.” He gently scrubbed me with the washcloth.

 “And I love you.” He pecked my lips before starting to clean himself off.

 “Josh?” I started pulling my clothes back on.

 “Yeah baby?”

 “I-It doesn’t bother you when we… does it? If it does, we don’t have to. I just don’t-”

 “It doesn’t bother me. You mean more to me than… the other guys. I enjoy it a lot more with you.” He smiled up at me while getting dressed.

 “You’re not just saying that, are you?”

 “I mean it, baby. Now come on, we better get home.”

 “Yeah. What do I tell my parents we did? Since we definitely weren’t practicing.” He shrugged.

 “Just say you were at my house for a while or something. You’re headed from that direction anyway.”

 “I don’t even want you to go to your house. Why would I say that?" I looked over at him incredulously.

 “It was just an idea.” I sighed.

 “I know. I just really don’t like knowing that’s what goes on at home for you.” My eyes fell sympathetically at the fading handprint on his cheek.

 “Well your family doesn’t know. They wouldn’t be bothered by it.” He glanced away, shame in his eyes.

 “I know. I think I’ll just tell them that then.” I smiled softly and lifted his chin.

 “Ty?”

 “Yeah, Joshie?” He smiled softly.

 “I love you.” I cupped his jaw and brought him close for a quick kiss.

 “I love you too. Now we really better get home, since it’s dark now.” He nodded and grabbed my hand.

 “I don’t want to…” We walked out of the house together.

 “I know baby. I don’t want you to either. But we can’t do anything about that just yet.” He nodded.

 “I know. I’m scared.” He stopped a few houses down. I held him close.

 “If you get a chance to leave there tonight, I want you to do it and go over to my house like you did that one morning last month. I don’t care what time it is, I’ll find a way to get you inside.” He nodded.

 “Okay, I’ll do that.” I smiled and kissed him gently before walking away.

 “I’ll see you tomorrow!” I walked back to my house

 “Hi honey! How was school?” My mom asked from where she sat on the couch with the rest of my family watching tv. I joined them, sitting on the end.

 “Pretty good.” She huffed slightly when she saw me sit down.

 “You’re still wearing that awful thing? It gives a bad image of you, I hope you realize.”

 “Yeah, but it was a gift from a friend. Like I said yesterday, I-”

 “What your mother is trying to say is it makes you look like a part of the wrong crowds. You don’t want to be associated with them by any scouts.” I grimaced slightly before changing to a smile when thinking of the greasers, and how one of my first experiences of the year with them was a prank about college talent scouts.

 “I guess. But a friend gave it to me, I can’t just-”

 “You can and you will, because this isn’t what’s best for you, Tyler! That’s all we want is what will benefit you the most, and these ‘friends’ of yours who gave you that have no part in it if they're a part of that crowd! They’re nothing but trouble.” A stunned silence took up the front room except for the white noise of the tv running after my dad’s outburst.

 “Okay. I have a lot of homework to do, so I think I’m going to start that. Can’t be falling behind right before season…” I got up and walked to my room without another word. I could see that they were trying to express care for me, but they weren’t getting it. I never had actual friends before the greasers. Why would I give that up? And then of course there was Josh, and he was different. He was kind, gentle, and he loved me. I could feel it when he said it- there wasn’t a single shred of doubt I felt when he said it. I plopped down onto my bed, pulling my notebook out of my bag. I started writing different song ideas before actually starting my homework.

 

 I jolted upright with my face buried in a book hours later when something hit the window. I grimaced and wiped drool off the pages before looking over at the window. Josh smiled up at me, waving while getting ready to throw another rock. He tossed it just as the window opened, the rock landing on my bed.

 “What was that for? I opened the window already.” He laughed slightly.

 “Nothing, it was free.” I rolled my eyes while looking for a way for him to come inside.

 “If you're looking for a way inside, I got something.” He commented. I nodded, waiting for him to continue. He walked over to the tree in the front yard and climbed it, crawling over on a branch and across the roof to where my window faced the back yard.

 “Here, I'll pull you in.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him into my room, landing on my bed. He smiled.

 “Thanks, Ty.” He kissed my lips before moving closer under the sheets.

 “Did anything happen this time?” He froze.

 “N-No, nothing-”

 “Josh, tell me.” I sighed.

 “You'll get mad.”

 “I don't care, just tell me. Please.” He looked up at me, pulling go shirt up. Countless dark bruises decorated his his chest black and blue. I gasped before reaching out for one. He moved away.

 “T-That's not all…” He moved the neck of his shirt down from his neck, showing more dark bruises shaped like a hand. I stared in stunned silence, trying not to be angry around him.

 “Tyler? Say something.” I grabbed his hand and held it close to my chest, moving him closer in my bed.

 “Thank God you're not dead. He could've- you could've died!” I said while holding back anger and tears. He sighed while wrapping his arms around me.

 “You know Pete's plan to get him to stop while we tell someone? I think I'm ready to go through with it…” I got the feeling there was more he wasn't telling me, but I didn't pressure him. It was probably hard for him to show me the bruises, so I didn't want to make it any harder for him.

 “Okay, we can let them know later. My parents are probably going to be waking up soon.” He nodded.

 “Do they go to work when you leave for school or anything?”

 “My dad does, but not my mom. Luckily today's a Thursday though, so she'll be going to the store when the bus gets here.” He smiled slightly.

 “I'll be in here then. And I'll go through the back yard to meet you at the bus.” I smiled back.

 “Okay. My parents aren't the happiest with me right now anyways, so that might be for the best.”

 “What happened? It wasn't your sister, was it?” I shook my head.

 “No, she didn't tell anyone. It's… kind of a long story.” He nodded, hiding under the covers when my mom knocked on the door.

 “Tyler! Time to wake up!”

 “Tell me later.” I nodded and pecked his lips under the sheets before crawling out of bed and getting ready. I got dressed and went downstairs to have breakfast with my family, throwing my leather jacket on before sitting down at the table. My dad narrowed his eyes at me will my mom sighed.

 “I don't understand, Tyler. This is the first time you've ever acted like this to us. Why is that?” I shrugged.

 “I don't know, I don't exactly get what you mean.”

 “That jacket, Tyler. It doesn't even look nice on you, why wear that trashy thing?” I pulled it closer around me self-consciously.

 “It's just a jacket… ‘S not like it's doing anything wrong.” My siblings looked across me from the table slightly surprised, while my dad looked furious.

 “Did you just talk back to your mother!?” I shrunk into my chair.

 “N-No, I was just making a-”

 “Well stop! You need to listen to us, and just get rid of the damn thing!” My dad fumed while we all stared at him.

 “Dad, what's wrong with Tyler's jacket? I think it looks cool…” My brother Zack asked.

 “It's been associated with those kids- those _punks_ \- down the street, who are nothing but trouble. Wearing something associated with people like that puts him with them, and that's the kind of people colleges avoid. He'll never get scouted if he stays with it.”

 “But his grades are good, aren't they? Isn't that-”

 “It's not enough. Colleges will look at more than grades. And I don't want any of you to get any ideas? Understood?” He got up and kissed my mom before getting his things together.

 “That jacket better be gone by tryouts tonight. Got it, Tyler?” I nodded, picking at my breakfast before leaving for the bus. Josh came around from the backyard and walked onto the bus with me.

 “So what was that all about?” I sighed.

 “Just, uh… pep-talk. For tryouts later today.”

 “Those are today, aren’t they?” He groaned.

 “There’s no medical exam or anything. It’s all just skills. If that’s what you’re worried about.”

 “Well, not the main concern wit tryouts. I don’t know if I’ll make it.”

 “Of course you will! You’ve been doing really well in practice.”

 “That’s not my concern either.”

 “Then what are you worried about? You’re going to do fine.” I smiled at him reassuringly. He smiled back, moving closer.

 “I’m worried about why you’re lying to me. What’s going on, Tyler? That didn’t sound like a pep-talk.”

 “I’ll tell you later.” I sighed. He nodded seeing Jenna sit down by us.

 “Are you excited for today, Tyler?”

 “Nervous mostly, but a little excited. Same here with Josh.” He smiled and nodded.

 “Yeah. Really nervous.”

 “I think I’ve seen you two together before, but I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Jenna.” She smiled and shook Josh’s hand.

 “I’m Josh, Tyler’s… friend.” I tried to hide my blush, immediately knowing what he meant by it.

 “Is that new, Tyler? I don’t think I’ve seen you wear _that_ before…” She pointed at my jacket, a slight air of disgust surrounding her.

 “Oh, yeah. It’s pretty cool, right?” I smiled slightly.

 “I guess… makes you look an awful lot like the greasers.”

 “Well they don’t seem that bad. They came around a few times Josh and I were practicing.” I felt disturbed by how easy the lie came off, but not  bothered enough to take it back. What she didn’t hurt her, or give her ill will towards us.

 “They did?”

 “Yeah, they’re good friends.”

 “Oh… They just normally seem so tough and rude, I never really thought of getting to talk to them.” I shrugged.

 “They don’t seem that bad. But they might have been on their best behavior around me, I don’t know.” Josh scoffed.

 “No, they’re like that all the time. They wouldn’t act different around you because they think you’re some sort of special princess.” I laughed slightly along with him.

“Yeah, I’ll say.” The bus stopped in front of the school. Jenna got up with a nervous smile.

 “I’ll see you around. It seems we might be seeing each other more, right Josh? Good luck you two!” Josh followed me off the bus.

 “So should we go downstairs to practice, go find the others, the bleachers,  or what?” He shrugged.

 “Probably the bleachers. I want to talk to you, about earlier.” I sighed heavily, clutching my bag closer.

 “Right. Well, we better start going out that way.” He nodded, walking next to me.

 

We sat down on the top row of the bleachers, the bell ringing as we put our stuff down.

 “So… what the hell was that earlier?”

 “What, when we were talking to Jenna?”

 “No, when your dad was yelling at you about the jacket over breakfast! What’s his problem?” I shrugged.

 “I wish I knew. I’d fix whatever I was doing wrong…” He sighed.

 “Ty, it’s not you- it’s them. Remember what Pete said a while back about them keeping you in the dark about some stuff? They’re starting to realize you know about all of it now, and they don’t like that. You can’t help those that don’t want change.”

 “You seem to know plenty about it already…”

 “I heard it all from upstairs. Your dad was kinda loud. Why did you lie about it to me though?”

 “I-I don’t know, it just bothered me. It’s been like this all week, they keep getting mad about it. I don’t get why, it’s just a stupid- _damn_ jacket!” I huffed. He placed one of his hands on my back.

 “That’s sensible enough. Is that the only reason why you’re upset by it?”

 “No, it’s because they don’t accept you- us- really being friends or anything else then, despite them being the main reason we’re together now. It’s like they’re not even acknowledging you, or that I like being with you.” He nodded.

 “Yeah, I can see that about them. They’re really against it.”

 “They were hoping I could ‘lead you to the right path’ or some crap when we started talking…” I grumbled before resting my elbows on my knees. He laughed slightly.

 “I don’t that went quite as expected then.” I smiled, stealing a quick kiss on his lips.

 “Yeah, I’ll say.”

 “I guess you fell too hard for me.” He smiled smugly while I scoffed.

 “I didn’t fall for you! Immediately!” He rolled his eyes.

 “Say what you want, I know the truth.” I huffed.

 “Oh, whatever!” He giggled.

 “Aw, you’re getting mad ‘cause you know I’m right.” I smiled while blushing.

 “Am not! I’m getting mad because you’re poking fun at me.” I pouted. He giggled and held on to me.

 “Don’t be mad, baby. You’re so adorable when you’re smiling, and laughing, and happy.” I nuzzled into him, the bell ringing interrupting our moment. He sighed and slid away in case anyone else came out to the bleachers then.

 “Why don’t we go downstairs? We can be alone there.” He smiled.

 “And you can practice for the show.”

 “You just want to hear me play.” I giggled.

 “Guilty as charged. I can’t help that though, you’re so talented. It’s hard not to listen to you.” I rolled my eyes.

 “Well let’s get going before you get too sappy.” We stood up and walked over to the school, heading straight for the door to downstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I may or not be getting in trouble tomorrow because I cut the sleeves off a new band shirt my friend got me at warped tour when she went (it's motionless in white because I fricken love them so much oml yassss) and I'm wearing it to school despite strict dress codes but meh. They expect us to act grown up and there's not actual federal or state laws forbidding me from showing my shoulders so I'm gonna do it. Wish me luck! 
> 
> // This is also the place I almost got dresscoded for wearing a sweater with sleeves longer than my middle finger. Like that's an actual rule wHO THE HELL IS GETTING PAID TO MAKE THIS SHIT UP I SWEAR WHY THE HELL IS THAT A RULE IT'S A FUCKING SWEATER AND I NEEDED IT THAT DAY!!!!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wOW GUESS WHO'S BACK AFTER LIKE TWO MONTHS!!! ME!!! So sorry, school was a soulcrusher and my depression started acting up and kicked my ass!!! So this took to long to write because I either forgot or didn't have motivation to write it, but here we are now with an update, and I'm gonna keep updating as often as possible (and it's definitely going to be sooner than like two months) ALSO: HUGE thank you for all the comments! Whether they're constructive criticism or compliments they're all appreciated!! Now enjoy!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers for this chapter include: slight bullying/ridicule at school, Josh's dad just being the prick he is (but more than usual I hope I don't ruin anything by saying, but it involves being kicked out/disowned/ that kind of thing). Stay safe guys! |-/

***Josh***

Tyler stayed sat at the piano for a couple hours, playing the same lines over and over again. He groaned after a while and slammed his hands on the keys before slamming his head on it.

“What's the matter, baby? You were doing so good.” I placed my arm around him.

“I can't get this just right! I'm trying and trying, but I just can't!”

“What's not right about it? Anything I can do to help?” He shrugged.

“I have an idea for how it's supposed to sound in my head, but it's not connecting with my fingers. Like, they just can't move fast enough to fit this part in.”

“Sounds like a rhythm issue. I don't know much about the piano, but I can help with that.” I smiled and moved closer on the piano bench.

“Okay, so I want it to flow at the bridge like this, ” He played a few chords before stopping, “And then I want to add this part in,” he started playing a slower bridge, “And then since the tempo slows I can't quite connect it.”

“Oh, I see what you're wanting. Your hands aren't moving fast enough for the bridge, and that screws it all up at the slow part.”

“Yeah! Any advice on how to fix it?” He smiled.

“Anticipate the change. So when you play up here,” I gently played the keys where he had written the chords at, “Count it off in your head. And when you get closer to that tempo change, just start getting ready for that transfer over.” He nodded.

“Okay, I'll give it a go.” He took a deep breath and started playing, humming along until it slowed. He started singing the words while playing.

“By the time the night wears off, the dust is down. And shadows burn. I will rise and stand my ground, waiting for the night’s return.” He smiled slightly and played it through to the end of the song.

“That was really good, Ty!”

“Thanks, it felt a lot better. Thank you for helping me, Joshie.” He giggled while nuzzling into my chest.

“Aw, anything for you sweetheart.” I kissed his forehead softly, trailing down his cheek and peppering kisses across his face. He giggled while trying to grab my face.

“Josh! Stop it!” He giggled louder.

“Why? You’re too kissable to stop!” 

“I need to practice! This is distracting me!” I sighed and moved away, forming another idea.

“Fine… How ticklish are you?” He looked up from where he was concentrated on the piano.

“Hm? I don’t know, fairly ticklish. Why?” I smiled mischievously while tackling him and tickling his stomach He started laughing and giggling loudly, trying to squirm out from under me.

“You should’ve seen this one coming from a mile away, cutie.” He giggled, trying to grab my arms.

“Josh! You meanie!” He whined while laughing.

“I’m not mean! I’m just having a little fun is all!” I laughed along with him.

“But I need to practice! Get off!” He whined. I stopped tickling him and crossed my arms.

“If you can make me.” He smiled at the challenge.

“Okay, let’s see how you like it!” He moved up and landed on top of me, tickling me gently, probably being mindful of the bruises.

“Tyler! I said make me get off you, not get on top of me!” He giggled along with me.

“I know, and I did. This part’s just getting back at you.” He stopped after a few minutes and started peppering me with kisses.

“Okay, okay- I get it!” I laughed, trying to get out from under him.

“But I wanna kiss you! You’re so kissable!” He smiled, using my words against me. I groaned and laid still, smiling at him while he continued, moving down to kissing my stomach where my shirt rode up while he tickled me.

“You have such soft skin, you know.” He continued while I blushed, my eyes closed in bliss.

“Thanks, Ty.” He slid off of me and sat back down on the piano bench. I smiled up at him.

“Play me something.”

“I already am, I’m playing what I’m performing.”

“No, that’s practicing. Play me a song I’ve never heard before, one only you know.” He nodded.

“I think I’ve got one like that you’ll like. It’s something I came up with that’s really personal.” He started playing before singing along in his unique style

_ "I'm taking over my body, back in control, no more shotty. I bet a lot of me was lost, t’s uncrossed and i’s undotted. I fought it a lot, and it seems a lot like flesh is all I got. Not anymore, flesh out the door, swat! _

_ “I must've forgot, you can't trust me. I'm open a moment and close when you show it, before you know it, I'm lost at sea. And now that I write and think about it, and the story unfolds. You should take my life, you should take my soul. _

_ “You are surrounding all my surroundings, sounding down the mountain range of my left-side brain. You are surrounding all my surroundings, twisting the kaleidoscope behind both of my eyes. _

_ "And I'll be holding on to you. _

_ “Remember the moment, you know exactly where you're going, 'cause the next moment, before you know it, time is slowing, and it's frozen still. And the window sill looks really nice, right? You think twice about your life, it probably happens at night, right? _

_ Fight it! Take the pain, ignite it! Tie a noose around your mind, loose enough to breathe fine and tie it, to a tree. Tell it, ‘You belong to me. This ain't a noose, this is a leash. And I have news for you: you must obey me.’ _

_ “You are surrounding all my surroundings, sounding down the mountain range of my left-side brain. You are surrounding all my surroundings, twisting the kaleidoscope behind both of my eyes. _

_ “Entertain my faith. _

_ “Lean with it, rock with it. When we gonna stop with it? Lyrics that mean nothing, we were gifted with thought. Is it time to move our feet, to an introspective beat? It ain't the speakers that bump hearts, it's our hearts that make the beat. _

_ “And I'll be holding on to you.”  _ I stared at him wide-eyed with a huge smile plastered to my face.

“I-I don’t know what to say, other than that was completely amazing!” He smiled sheepishly, relief flooding through his eyes.

“Thanks.”

“Every time you play, I’m completely dazzled. You’re gonna win that show for sure.” I smiled and hugged him.

“I think it’s lunch time about now. We can go bother the guys and then go to our last classes before tryouts.” I kissed him gently.

“That sounds like a plan, baby. Let’s get going on it.” He grabbed his bag and followed me upstairs.

 

“Hey you two!” Pete greeted, Patrick right beside him. Gabe waved while eating.

“Brendon a no-show today?” We sat side-by-side in between Pete and Gabe.

“Seems so. He might swing by later, if he's not too busy.” Pete snickered.

“Oh, so he’s with his boyfriend then?” I asked.

"Yeah,  _ busy _ .” Gabe laughed.

“I see…” Tyler replied, his face red.

“Oh, don't play innocent! I'm sure you two have been ‘busy’ before!” Pete laughed. I joined Tyler in blushing bright red.

“N-No-” Tyler stuttered out.

“Hey, what we do in our free time is none of your business. Assholes…” They giggled while smiling.

“Aw, you're defending your boyfriend's innocence!”

“You two are so cute!” Tyler blushed harder while I held his hand under the table.

“You say that as if it doesn't exist. Tyler's so innocent.” He snorted.

“Why are you talking for me? I'm more than capable of proving myself.” Pete snorted after Tyler replied, smirking up at me.

“Well then, why don't you prove it? If it's so easy for you to prove, that is.” I smirked back at him.

“Yeah, how are you innocent?”

“Well-um- I've never… smoked?” Gabe scoffed.

“So you've done everything else then?”

“By everything you mean…”

“Drinking, sex, drugs, you know… bad ‘unchristian’ things.”

“Well I haven't done drugs at least!” Pete started laughing.

“You are  _ wild _ , man!” Gabe started laughing along. I smiled while he pouted.

“Aw, don't feel bad. You're very good at being bad.” He seemed to get visibly sadder from that comment. I moved closer and wrapped one of my arms around him.

“Yeah, it's not a bad thing!”

“To some people, maybe. But that's just a matter of opinion to those who don't matter.” Gabe replied reassuringly. He nodded.

“In fact, why don’t we show you how it’s actually good?” Pete smiled.

“Okay, yeah. It can’t be tonight, because the tryouts are tonight.”

“Well how about this weekend? I won’t have a party, and we can show you instead.”

“Okay. It’s not like… really bad, is it?”

“Well it depends on what you mean by ‘bad’. Do you mean something actually morally wrong, or something that they told you was bad?” Pete asked.

“Both? I always thought it was the same thing.” I shrugged.

“It depends. Is it wrong to fall in love with whoever you want just because you love them?”

“No, not at all.”

“Even if they’re the same gender as you?”

“Well… no. It’s fine. Isn’t it? Or else it wouldn’t happen.”

“Exactly. Is it okay to rape someone?” Pete interjected.

“What- no! Who in their right mind would think that!?”

“The same people who think it’s okay to beat people for being a different color. We don’t have a popular opinion, but you watch- one day people will be agreeing with us.” Tyler nodded.

“I see your point. Well- whatever you have planned must not be that bad.” The bell rang for the end of lunch.

“Exactly. We’ll talk more later and show you what we mean. Good luck at tryouts, you two!”

 

***Tyler***

 

I walked with Josh to our next class, deciding to attend it in case the hall monitors came to excuse us early for tryouts. We sat in the back, a few seats in between us. After taking notes from the teacher’s boring lecture, a paper landed on my desk.

_ 'Something’s bothering you. What’s wrong?’ _ I looked over at Josh to see him staring back expectantly.

‘Nothing.’ I mouthed back at him. He scoffed before passing another piece of paper to me.

_ ‘Come on, PLEASE tell me.’ _ I sighed and decided to write back to him.

_ 'Nothing is wrong, I swear.’  _ We continued writing notes to each other.

_ ‘I doubt that. Just tell me what’s wrong. Please?’ _

_ ‘Fine. At lunch, when we were talking and you said I was good at being bad. That’s not something I should be. I’m disappointing my family by being bad.’ _

_ ‘Does that bother you?’ _ Did it really? I was conflicted- I was, because I’m supposed to set a good example for my siblings, and do everything right. But on the other hand, I wasn’t. I enjoyed being with Josh, and the greasers. And if that made me ‘bad’, it felt damn good to be bad.

_ ‘No. I’m bothered that it doesn’t bother me enough to change.’ _

_ ‘You like this? Everything that’s happened?’ _ He smiled hopefully at me while passing a new piece of paper over.

_ ‘Yes, way more than I would’ve ever thought. It’s so much better than what I first thought.’ _

_ ‘Good. I like you being happy.’  _ The teacher walked back right as Josh balled the paper in his hand. I grabbed the other one and did the same.

“Would you two gentlemen like to share what’s so important it’s keeping you from listening to the lesson?”

“No, that’s why we wrote it out.” Josh replied. I smiled when the teacher started getting angrier.

“Well then, I’ll just have to take a look for myself.” She reached over towards my hand with the note. I quickly balled it up tighter before putting it in my mouth.

“There’s nothing to see, ma’am.” I replied, the sound muffled by the paper. The class laughed while the teacher huffed and walked back to the front.

“You two better start paying attention if you expect to be on the basketball team.” I pulled out the soggy paper while Josh giggled softly. I wrote more lyrics in my notebook as an attempt to make it appear like I was paying attention while Josh doodled on his paper. Once the bell rang, we walked over to the blacktop where the tryouts were being held.

“Did you really stick that whole thing in your mouth!?” He laughed while asking.

“Yeah. I think I got a papercut on my tongue…”

“Aw, poor baby. So how are the tryouts going to go?” He asked. I looked down at my jacket and groaned internally before answering.

“It’s going to be a bit like how we practice. There will be a few teams set up to play against each other after drilling, and the people who do the best will be chosen.” He nodded.

“Do you think we can make it? Those other guys might be there, and also- I'm just not that good.” I scoffed.

“You'll make it, I promise. We both will, it'll be fine.” He smiled slightly, eyeing the other guys walking up curiously.

“What the hell are you two freaks doing here?” One spoke. I immediately recognized him from the incident in the hallway a few weeks ago.

“Tryouts.” Josh replied weakly. A few others walked up, one of them scoffing.

“Like you losers could even run fast enough for the team.” They laughed at their insults toward us. I felt hot tears pricking at the corners of my eyes when I replied.

“I h-happen to be the team captain of the last three seasons…” They started laughing harder.

“W-Well good f-for you! You might be able to run, but you sure as hell can’t talk!” I stared down at the ground while they continued to laugh and joke. It wasn’t right- they never treated me like this before.

“Hey, why don’t you guys just shut the fuck up and back off? It’s not like you’re improving your chances of making the team by insulting the captain!” Josh defended.

“Oh, so you’re defending him now? He’s pathetic! The only reason he’s ever made the team is his dad!” A whistle blew before Josh or I could reply- the coach arriving. I blinked the tears away before looking up, my dad standing in the middle of the court.

“Welcome to basketball season, ladies! For now, we’re just seeing which of you are good enough to defend our team’s championship title this season. You will be tested so gruesomely, you will grow to hate the sport after today. Hopefully that shouldn’t stay so for long, because we need motivated young guys for this- so if you’re here just to get out of classes or homework, leave now.” We stared at him blankly while he waited for anyone to leave.

“Good, we might have a chance this year. Get into teams of two to play against each other!” The other guys shuffled around while finding team mates. I stood by Josh, trying to ignore the glares from my dad and the other people trying out.

“Don’t worry about them, Ty. You’ll get to show them all up when we play.” Josh reassured. Each pair was given a number before being assigned to another team. We walked over to the half-court we were placed at, against the same guys from earlier.

“Well, well, well- if it isn’t the losers.” One jeered while spinning the ball on the tip of his finger clumsily. Josh huffed.

“Whatever, let’s just get this over with.”

“Gladly.” We started playing against them once the whistle blew. The match went by quickly, with Josh and I beating them brutally. He high-fived me once we finished.

“That was cool!”

“Yeah!” The rest of the tryouts continued like that until every pair had played against each other once.

“Alright, congrats on making it through the tryouts. The team will be posted on the bulletin board tomorrow!” My dad sent one last glare my way before walking off.

“Good job, Ty!”

“You did good too! I’m sure you made the team.” He nodded while we walked towards the main building.

“At least that’s out of the way now. Are practices going to interfere with your other practice? It’s in a week after all.”

“It’s that soon? No wonder he’s been so stressed, because that’s when the qualifiers are.” i sighed.

“Who, your dad? It makes sense, but it’s no excuse.”

“I don’t know how I’m going to be able to do both practices now.”

“How about after basketball? We could always just say it’s tutoring. It kinda is, in a way.” I nodded.

“That could work. And then during school I can practice too.” He smiled.

“Yeah. We’ll work something out, and you’ll do great that night. I know you will.” I smiled back, holding his hand closely when we walked into the empty building. We walked downstairs and into the music room. He stared vacantly, a slight smile on his lips while I practiced.

“Ty?” He said once I finished running through a part.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.” I smiled softly.

“I love you too.” He moved next to me on the piano bench and rested his head on my shoulder.

“I don't want to go home…”

“I know, sweetheart. I don't want you to either.” He hummed happily.

“I like that. I like it when you call me sweetheart or other cute names like that.” I smiled.

“Well whatever makes you happy I’ll do, sweetie. Anything to make you happy.” He smiled back, giggling softly.

“You make me happy.” I smiled and wrapped my arms around him.

“You make me happy too.”

 

“You’re certain you want to go back tonight? We were going to do that thing Pete had talked about before.”

“I know, but… not tonight.” I nodded. I knew he was probably going to hate me for what came next, but I had made plans in case he didn’t go through with it tonight. Whether he had had enough of it or not, I had. And I was going to try and stop this. We stopped a few houses down, as usual.

“I’ll see you tomorrow okay?” He hugged me close and kissed my softly. I let my lips linger on his a few moments longer before he finally pulled away.

“Hey, be careful, alright?” He asked while walking away. I snorted.

“I should be the one telling you that, not the other way around!” He laughed slightly.

“Yeah, well you look like you’re planning on doing something stupid. Whatever it is- don’t.”

“You don’t even know what I’m planning!”

“Aha! So you  _ do  _ have some sort of plan!”

“Maybe, maybe not… Besides, I’m too stubborn for you to stop.” He laughed slightly.

“Just stay safe, okay? I guess if I can’t stop you, I’ll just make sure you don’t get hurt or something.”

“I’ll try not to get hurt!” He waved before walking up to his house and walking inside. I waited a few minutes before walking over, shouting already loud and clear before I made it to the front door.

“Can’t you do a single fucking thing right!? You’re late every damn night, you’re lazy, and now I’m getting complaints from some of our regulars! Do you have any idea the kind of business we’re losing over your stupid bullshit!?” The voice was slurred, obviously drunk. Josh’s replies were quiet, but I could barely make them out.

“I-I’m sorry! I-I don’t know why they’re complai-” A loud crash came out, like glass being broken on something.

“Don’t you fucking dare to lie to me! You know damn well what you’re doing, you’re doing it to drive business away! After everything I’ve ever done for you, and this is the thanks I get!?”

“I-I don’t k-know! I swe-” His voice was cut off with the most awful strangling sound. I ran up to the door from where I was hiding, knocking while his dad continued yelling.

“So you don’t know about the other marks appearing on you!?  You don’t fucking know about them not being satisfied!? You don’t- what the hell is that?” I heard a thump before footsteps approached the door. I tried not to look spooked as a tall man about middle aged with the lingering smell of alcohol on him.

“I-I’m sorry to knock at such a late time, b-but I heard noises that sounded like some sort of struggle, a-and wanted to make sure everything was okay…” I glanced over at Josh, who was staring frantically.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I-I’m sorry sir, m-my name’s Tyler. I live do-down the street, and I was worried. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay before deciding to call the cops or anything.” His eyes widened before he scoffed.

“Stupid nosy kids… go back home, we’re fine.”

“O-Okay, have a nice night.” I quickly walked off as he slammed the door, moving back to where I was before when his dad resumed his yelling.

“So that’s the little shit! Isn’t he?”

 “I-I don’t u-under-” He was cut off by a loud slap to the cheek, my hopes that it wasn’t the same one as before. That would only make the mark he had there healed worse…

“You fucking liar! You dirty slut, you don’t think I hear you! Hear you screaming ‘oh Tyler, Tyler!’ every time you’re working! You lying homosexual piece of shit! Either get your shit together and help this family or get the fuck out! I’ve warned you before, and you still fucking do it!” I blushed slightly. Josh was thinking of me when his dad made him “work”? I guess if it got him through it… he wouldn’t have to worry about it now though.

“But I-” He stopped sharply, groaning loudly.

“You always were a weak pussy who couldn’t take a single blow… You better be out of here by the morning. And if I ever see you here again, I’ll- I’ll- It’ll be bad, I can assure you! As far as I’m concerned, you never were a son of mine.” His dad stormed off leaving Josh softly sobbing. Did I just make it better or worse? He wouldn’t have to deal with being beaten anymore, but his father just disowned and kicked him out. Where was his mother in any of this?” I ran back home and snuck back in, my family asleep already. They stopped waiting for me, I guess. I went up to my room and waited for when Josh would come over.

 

I waited for another hour before giving up and getting ready for bed. He wasn’t really mad, was he? Did I actually mess everything up? What if he was mad, and he wasn’t coming like I asked him to because he was mad? Loud knocking interrupted my thoughts.

“Who on earth could that be at this time?” My dad groaned while walking downstairs and answering the door. I snuck out of bed to the top of the stairs after he left to watch.

“O-Oh, hello M-Mr. Jo-Joseph. S-Sorry to come so la-late, but-” Josh stood at the door, his cheeks streaked with tears and blood dripping from his nose while he gripped onto a small bag tightly.

“Oh, dear, you look horrible! Are you alright? Come inside, we’ll get you cleaned up.” My mom interrupted while pulling him inside.

“So what happened to you?” My dad asked while my mom cleaned his face.

“O-Oh, this? I-It’s really nothing, no-nothing worse than usual, I g-guess... I-It’s fr-from-” He broke off into a sob, collapsing onto my mom. I wished I could be the one that was holding him, but not yet. My mom looked up at my dad.

"What do we do? Poor thing’s all shook up…”

“I don’t know. We need to know what happened though, to fix it. Do you want us to call your family, Joshua?” He started crying harder.

“H-He always- I-It’s ju-just J-Josh, pl-please.”

“Chris, he’s in hysterics. Maybe we should wait until tomorrow to call or do anything. Here, come on sweetie. We’ve got a spare mattress upstairs in Tyler’s room you can sleep on tonight, okay? He won’t mind you coming in, he sleeps like a log. When he does sleep…” Josh cracked a very small smile while sniffling.

“He always seems tired at school.” My mom sighed.

“Yeah, he doesn’t sleep much. I ran back into my room and into my bed before they could see me. My mom came in with Josh following and pulled the spare mattress out from under my bed and set it beside me on the floor.

“Now if you need anything else, we’re right next door, okay? Goodnight!” She left and went back to bed. Once he was sure both my parents had gone back to bed, he spoke, just finished crying.

“I-I know you’re not asleep, Tyler.” His voice still quivered, as if he could start crying again at any minute. I sighed and rolled over towards him.

“Okay, fine. You got me.”

“What the h-hell were you thinking!? You could’ve go-gotten hurt!”

“I know, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it- I’m just so sick of seeing you getting hurt because of him.”

“So y-you took matters into your own ha-hands? Do you not trust me to k-know when things are supposed to ha-happen?”

“What- no! Of course I trust you! I just knew something had to happen when you decided you were too scared to go through with Pete’s idea.”

“I-I wasn’t too scared to do it! I-It just… H-He kicked me out, d-disowned m-me… What am I-I supposed to do no-now?” He started crying again softly. I slid over in my bed and made room for him.

“C’mere, let me cuddle with you.” He turned away from me and faced the wall.

“N-No, I’m m-mad at you. You di-didn’t trust me, a-and you put yourself in danger!” I huffed.

“Okay, I’m sorry! I’m sorry that I put myself in danger to help you!”

“That’s not all of it! I don’t have anywhere to go now! And my mom’s gonna wake up tomorrow to see her son gone! What’s she going to think, Tyler? Whatever my dad tell her, and I know for a fact he’s going to cover his ass!”

“Well then we get proof of what was going on and show her the truth!” He sighed heavily.

“It’s not that easy, Tyler. We can’t just get her to believe us immediately. And then… he… can change her mind and make her think we're the ones lying!” I moved out of my bed and laid down next to him, wrapping my arms around him. He tried to squirm away for a moment before sighing and nuzzling into my chest.

“Fine. Just tonight though.” I nodded and kissed his cheek.

“We'll see where to go from here tomorrow. We can fix this, I know we can.” He huffed and rolled his eyes, smiling slightly.

“I love you too, Ty."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've decided what force of nature chose to have the show choir perform Grease this year needs to burn in hell I AM NOT CUTE I CANNOT FAKE IT I AM NOT SORRY EITHER!!! But ha ha I got out of the performance since my family made plans already!! HAhahahaha I feel bad for the rest of the choir stuck there! I'm so not sorry that I'm missing it I don't even have a major role lmao. Oh well enough of that


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Triggers for this chapter are: A very graphic and bad dream Josh has at the end, which is completely italicized and optional to read! It's basically just flashbacks to some experiences Josh had before with his dad so yeah. Not required. Stay safe! |-/ :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAS GUESS WHO FINISHED AN UPDATE BEFORE A MONTH PASSED???? ME!!!! It's so hard to keep up with this between school and family expectations and lacking mental stability but oh well... I hope this is good and you guys enjoy it!!!

***Tyler***

The next morning, I woke up with my parents knocking on my door in my own bed again. Josh was curled up in the mattress next to my bed on the floor.

“We didn’t want you to wake you last night, sorry. He came in real late, poor thing… He looked like he got into something awful. If you can find out what was happening, let us know so we can all try to help him.” I nodded sleepily. She left my room after with a smile while Josh started waking up.

“Hey, good morning.”

“Hey…” He replied while stretching. His eyes were red and puffy, his cheeks covered in streaks from tears.

“Were you crying when you went to sleep?”

“N-No... You were fast asleep already, and I had already moved you back to your bed so nothing would happen to you…”

“Oh, well you didn’t- you didn’t have to. You could’ve woken me up if you were crying. I would’ve been okay staying up with you to make sure you were okay.”

“But y-your mom said you don’t sleep much… I didn’t want to be a bother.” I sighed.

“Josh, you’re not a bother. Sweetheart, you’re amazing. I can’t help it if some people can’t see that. It’s just their loss.”

“But you see it?” I smiled.

“‘Course I see it. It’s hard for me not to.” He nodded while pulling some clothes out of his bag to change into.

“Um, I know you don’t mind, b-but I don’t want your family getting the wrong idea.” I nodded.

“Right, well- I’ll be outside if you need me.” He smiled slightly and nodded while I walked out. After a few moments, he came out while fixing his jacket.

“Your turn.” I smiled and went into my room and changed quickly. I grabbed my school stuff before walking out and saw Josh standing outside the door.

“Come on, mom probably has breakfast ready.” He nodded and silently followed me downstairs. I sat down at my usual seat, another one pulled up beside me for Josh to sit in. I felt my parents staring at me as I sat down, still wearing my jacket.

“Good morning, you two. Sleep alright?” I nodded while Josh shrugged quietly.

“Thank you for letting me stay overnight.”

“Of course, it’s not trouble. We were wondering though- what happened last night? Should we call your family to tell them what happened?” Josh looked down while staying quiet.

“You don’t have to call my family… they won’t be looking for me…” My mom gasped softly while my dad looked up over his newspaper sympathetically. My siblings stayed quiet, and I reached under the table and grabbed his hand, giving it a soft squeeze.

“Oh that.. That’s too bad. Is that spare room cleaned up, honey?”

“It should be, we hardly have anyone in there.”

“Great! I’ll go in there and check it today, and it’ll be move-in ready by the time you two come back from school!”

“Wait… you’re letting me stay?”

“As long as you need, sweetheart.” My mom smiled while giving him a plate with food piled on it.

“I-I don’t know what to say… thank you so much. I promise not to be too much of a bother.” He smiled slightly while picking at his food.

“Oh nonsense! You won’t be a bother at all!” My mom smiled back while cleaning up after we all finished eating mostly. My dad put his newspaper on the table before kissing my mom’s cheek.

“Well, I’m off for work. You kids get going too, the bus is here.” I grabbed my bag and started getting ready to leave with Josh, my dad stopping me at the doorway. He glared at my jacket before his glare softened with disappointment and then walking away without saying anything. I sighed and walked outside to where Josh was by the bus, waiting for me.

“Everything alright?”

“Fine, I guess. Never better.” I faked a smile and walked onto the bus while he followed me.

“Are you sure? What happened back there?”

“It’s really nothing. I’ll probably be hearing about it later anyways…” He sat down next to me on the seat, my stare fixated out the window. He stealthily moved closer and grabbed my hand.

“Hey. Talk to me, Tyler. What’s wrong?” I sighed.

“Nothing, just.. oh , who am I kidding? Everything’s wrong. My parents are disappointed in me, I got you kicked out of your house, and the talent show is in a few days and I’m still not ready. Not to mention basketball…”

“Ty, you are so ready for that show. You’re gonna kick ass in that and basketball, because that’s what you’re good at. And your parents aren’t disappointed, they’re just confused. I know they still care a lot for you.”

“Yeah, but what about you? You don’t have anywhere-”

“I’m staying with you, remember? Or did you miss breakfast?” He laughed slightly.

“I thought you were mad… Last night, you said-”

“I'm not mad, Ty. I never was. I’m just scared, and stressed, and a few other things.” My heart sank. He was feeling all of this because of something I did. It was all my fault. He lead me off the bus and towards the lower level of the school.

“I ruined everything! I was trying to help, a-and I- I… I fucked it all up! I messed everything up…”

“What- Tyler, I never said that! You didn’t mess anything up! That was going to happen sooner or later, you just made it sooner. Nothing’s ruined!”

“But I’ve made you scared, a-and depressed! And-”

“I never said depressed Tyler, don’t put words in my mouth!”

“But you said a few other things!”

“Yeah relieved! I wasn’t sure what you would say to that one, and it’s the lesser of what I’m feeling. I’m relieved that I don’t have to work for my dad anymore, I’m relieved that I have somewhere outside of school to go to that I don’t feel completely isolated in… I’m so damn relieved that I never have to see those other men again you have no fucking idea!” He chuckled slightly.

“Y-You’re… You’re relieved.” I smiled softly.

“Yeah. So relieved.”

“B-But you’re still-” He shushed me with a finger to my mouth.

“Yeah, I still am. But let’s not focus on the negatives too much. How about you play something? We’ve got some time before the classes we have to attend.”

“You mean all of them?” He laughed.

“No. Come on, piano man!” I laughed.

“Okay, as long as you  _ never _ call me that again.” He pouted while i smiled and started playing my song for the talent show.

 

***Josh***  


 

I spent the whole time Tyler played lost in thought while being kept calm by his music. He made so much progress, and he had the song memorized now.

“It’s so beautiful, Ty.” I smiled when I saw him blush.

“Thanks. You know, we forgot something this morning.”

“Oh? What would that be?” He leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to my lips.

“That. We didn’t kiss this morning, with everything going on.”

“Yeah…” I stared back out at the wall vacantly, as I had been as of lately.

“Hey, Josh.  _ Joooosh _ …” He waved his hand in front of my face while crawling onto my lap.

“Wha- sorry. Been thinking a lot, I guess.”

“You okay? What are you thinking about?” I sighed.

“Everything, I guess.” I ran one of my hands through my hair nervously. He stayed silent, waiting for me to continue.

“Like, just everything that’s been going on. I thought I was going to be stuck there until I was eighteen, if not my entire life. And then you go and recklessly endanger yourself to stop it all, and we had a plan so you wouldn’t do it alone, but-”

“I thought you said you weren’t mad.”

“-I’m not, you didn’t let me finish. But you went ahead and did it anyways, for me. I guess you really do love me. A lot. And then I was so worried about everyone finding out and hating me, but then you all immediately started trying to stop him. I-I’m still amazed you would all go out of your way for me.”

“Of course we would, Josh. I know I speak for them when I say we all care a whole lot about you, and we won’t let you go through anything bad if we can help it.” He smiled and kissed my cheek lightly. He looked across the wall at the clock and smiled.

“Come on, we’ve been cooped up in here long enough. It’s about lunchtime anyways, let’s go bug the other guys!” I smiled. I was so lucky that he was able to see past what he had been told before and make friends with my friends.

“Yeah, let’s go.” I smiled and followed him out.

 

“For fucks sake, Brendon- I am not telling you what he said!” Pete yelled as we walked up. We each sat down quietly, waving to Patrick- who was the only one to notice us while the rest were in hysterics over what was happening.

“Come on, Pete! It can’t be that bad! Patrick told me- even though he’s sitting right fucking there- he won’t tell me, and I have to hear it from you!” Patrick raised his hands in surrender.

“I just said it was funnier from Pete! Besides, he’s the one who first made that comment.”

“Don’t pin this all on me, ‘Trick! You started it!”

“I didn’t! Come on, just tell him!”

“But you said it first!”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, one of you tell him!” Gabe shouted while laughing.

“Come on, it can’t be that bad.” Tyler added. Patrick huffed and leaned over before whispering in Brendon’s ear.

“Oh come on! We meant for us to hear!” Pete complained. Brendon’s eyes widened.

“Pete you fucking- I’m gonna murder you!” Brendon laughed while running after him across the table.

“Like hell you are!” Pete ran up and started hitting him back. Neither of them were hitting each other hard enough to cause real injury, so it was mostly flailing their arms at each other with weak slaps.

“Okay, okay! Enough of that before one of you sissies breaks a nail.” Gabe rolled his eyes while breaking them up.

“Hey, who are you calling sissy?!”

“Yeah,  _ I'm _ not a sissy! I don't know about Brendon th-”

“Fuck you! I already explained that to you before you talked shit!”

“Oh, come on! I was joking!” Brendon started laughing while Pete looked nervous.

“I know, you dumbass! I was just messing around.” Pete punched his shoulder.

“Don’t fucking do that to me, I was worried!”

“Ow! Okay, point taken. Have you considered this though?” He punched Pete's side while he grimaced.

“Excellent point. But what about this?” He put him in a headlock while Brendon struggled to break free and kicked his legs.

“Okay, that's really enough! You two are gonna kill each other one of these days.” I grumbled while pulling them away from each other. They sat back down next to each other laughing.

“We only do it out of love!”

“Yeah, all my love goes to you.” They giggled while mocking romantic states at each other.

“Yeah, yeah. You both have dates though!” Tyler rolled his eyes while laughing.

“Yeah- each other.” Brendon kissed Pete's hand before Patrick moved between them.

“Nope, you two are separated now.”

“Aw, Patrick! We were only making fun!”

“Yeah, whatever. It's better than you two maiming each other.” Brendon laughed.

“Ooh, Patrick, big words you got there! I bet it's not the only thing that's big!”

“Hey! Will the two of you calm down!? Maybe you could ask Tyler and Josh something since you haven't acknowledged them once since they showed up?” Patrick added. Brendon and Pete turned towards us while looking down at the table like children just scolded by their parents.

“Sorry…”

“Yeah, sorry about that, guys. Everything going good? Well, better than before at least?” Pete looked up towards me concerned.

“Y-Yeah, but that's a story for another time.” Tyler squeezed my hand.

“Tell them.” He mouthed the phrase at me while I took a deep breath.

“Okay, um- well last night- or was it the night before?”

“Last night.” Tyler answered.

“Last night. So Tyler went ahead with the plan-”

“But you said you weren't ready for that yet.” Patrick added.

“I know, h-he did it without my knowing.”

“Yeah, I'm still sorry about that. It worked though! To some extent.”

“It worked? He stopped?” Brendon asked. They all moved closer, smiling slightly while waiting for me to continue.

“Yeah, well- he can't abuse his son if in his eyes he doesn't have one…” Tyler wrapped his arm around me while their smiles faded into apologetic glances.

“ _ Lo siento mucho _ , friend.” Gabe replied while placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

“Gabe said he's so sorry.” Patrick added a translation.

“Yeah, that sucks man. But it's not all bad, right? You're not out on the street, are you?” Pete added. I smiled over at Tyler.

“No, Tyler's letting me stay at his place.”

“That's great! Do his parents… do they know about you two?” Tyler shook his head.

“No. They can't- we'll both get kicked out.” He nodded.

“Wait- when the fuck did you learn Spanish!?” Brendon asked Patrick.

“Recently. I figured it would help us all.” Gabe nodded.

“Yes, it does a lot. Thank you.”

“So he’s not hurting you anymore?” Brendon asked.

“Nope. That should be over with.” They all started cheering.

“That’s great! Next step is to report it!” Pete smiled.

“W-Wait, report it?”

“Yeah man, that was all so illegal, what he was doing to you. If we can’t get him for the abuse, we can definitely get him for the other stuff.” Brendon replied.

“B-But I can’t do that! He’s my dad, what will he think to see his own son ratting him out!?” Pete sighed.

“This is hard- okay. I hate to break this to you but… he doesn’t think you’re his son anymore, right? He doesn’t give a damn about you anymore for whatever reason that may be. He doesn’t care. No dad stops caring about his son. So he’s not your dad.” I felt myself sink deeper into the hole I fell into when he first kicked me out. He still cared, he had to! I’m his son, of course he cared!

“N-Not my- No. He still cares, h-he has to! I-I’m his son, h-he cares about me!” Tyler started holding onto me tightly.

“Calm down, okay? Deep breaths.”

“B-But I’m fine! H-He’s s-still my dad! H-He still c-cares!”

“Josh! Calm down, you’re starting to shake a lot.” Patrick and Gabe came over and help me breathe normally while Brendon came back with some water.

“Hey, don’t crowd him too much!” Pete came over beside me, worry filling his face.

“I-I’m so sorry Josh, I-I didn’t-”

“It’s alright. I was going to have to accept it sooner or later…” I shakily stood up, gripping onto the table before walking away.

“Josh! Wait!” Tyler called after me. I broke off into a sprint when I left the cafeteria, running straight towards an empty hallway. They were all lying- they had to be. Sure, he was… abusive, and he never really talked to me much outside of that, but he cared! He had to!

“Josh… baby.” Tyler spoke quietly while he approached. I looked up at him, blinking sharply after. My eyes started burning from all the crying I wasn’t aware of at first.

“H-He still cares, I know it.” He sat down beside me, wiping tears from my eyes.

“Sweetheart… normally I’d agree with you, but- it’s just not true.”

“B-But he- I… H-He- He disowned me.. Who disowns their kid!? It’s just not right!” I stared down at the ground trying to avoid crying more.

“Exactly- it’s not right. Even if he did still care, he’s not worth it anymore. You have to let him go.”

“B-But I can’t! What if he changes his mind? What if deep down, he still wants me there? M-Maybe he’s just taking a break, a-and trying to make things better be-between us…”

“Taking a break from his child? Josh, that doesn’t happen, and it’s not supposed to. He’s bad for you, it’s better if he’s out of your life.”

“How do I know that!? How do you know that? What if he’s just getting better for me!”

“Josh! He’s not, you know that! He’s never done a damn thing that’s good for you, why would he start now all of a sudden!?” I cowered slightly when he raised his voice. He sighed.

“I-I’m sorry Josh, but he’s just no good for you… And he isn’t trying to help you. If he ever wanted to help you, he’d talk to you rationally.” I stared out at the wall again.

“H-He really doesn’t care… never did…”

“I’m sorry to say, but that’s the truth. It’s best to just move on from it.” He wrapped his arms around me while I stayed motionless.

“Josh? Are you okay?”

“As okay as I can be for right now, I guess.” He pulled me up to my feet with him.

“Hey, don’t be like that. It’s gonna get better now. Why don’t we go do something fun? We can go shoot hoops, or go downstairs and hang out there, or we can-”

“Honestly, Ty- I’d rather just not do anything. I’m really not feeling up to it.” He nodded and squeezed my hand.

“Then we’ll go downstairs so we can do nothing and not get in trouble for it.”

“Okay…” He lead the way downstairs while I followed silently. When we got there, I sat down across from him against the wall while he sat at the piano.

“You look pretty worn down. Why don’t you take a nap?” I nodded, outstretching my arms and gesturing for him to come over. He giggled and sat next to me and held me close.

“Thank you.”

“Anything for you, sweetheart.” He kissed my forehead while I closed my eyes and fell asleep quickly.

 

_ “Just what the hell do you think you’re doing here!?” My dad slurred while I walked in after practicing basketball with Tyler. _

_ “I know, I’m late again. I’m so-” I was cut off by a slap to my face- but it passed right through me. Instead, another version of me (but a few years younger) stood where I normally would be. My dad grabbed the other by the neck and pinned him to the wall. I grimaced _

_ “I thought I told you not to be late again, you little shit!” _

_ “I-I’m sorry, sir-” _

_ “Oh, sir?! You dirty little slut, get to work! You can ‘sir’ somebody else!” He took a swig while throwing ‘me’ down towards the basement. The scene faded to black before starting back up to another day. _

_ “Dad? I got a new baseball at school today!” A very young version of me ran around the front room before stopping by the stairway towards the basement, ‘weird sounds’ coming from there. _

_ “Dad?” ‘I’ walked down towards the basement and opened the door a crack, my dad and his assistant, Miss Walters, ‘struggling’ on a table. They immediately froze when my dad saw, anger prevalent in his eyes. _

_ “I-I’ll be right back, Taylor.” He grabbed a bottle off the table and walked up towards me, shoving me into an empty closet nearby. _

_ “What the fuck do you think you’re doing!?” He hissed while holding the bottle threateningly at me _

_ “S-Sorry I just-” _

_ “‘Sorry’?! This is going to take a whole hell of a lot more than sorry to make up! This was an important opportunity for this family, and you just fucked it all up! You have any idea what you’ve done!?” _

_ “I-I’m sorry! I’ll do whatever I can to help, I swear!” He pulled ‘me’ along by the wrist to where Miss Walters sat, fixing her makeup in a compact mirror. _

_ “What do you think, Taylor? Will he fetch a pretty price in our new business?” She smiled while pinching ‘my’ cheek. Dread filled a pit in my stomach while I watched. _

_ “Aw, he’s cute! If not for just that, there’s someone who’s gonna be into him.” She smiled while sitting down, fixing her stockings before pulling a camera out of her purse. _

_ “Perfect. You- clothes off- now.” He gestured towards ‘me.’ _

_ “No- wait! He’s gonna do so much worse! Get out of here!” I tried shouting my voice was drowned out by Miss Walter’s camera clicking and my dad shouting threats. The scene reset again, this time something more recent. I walked on, the door clicking shut behind me. _

_ “Where the hell were you?” He sat still on the couch, calmer than usual. That was always bad… _

_ “I-I was trying out for the basketball- team…” My voice silenced to a mumble when he slammed his bottle down. _

_ “Can’t you do a single fucking thing right!? You’re late every damn night, you’re lazy, and now I’m getting complaints from some of our regulars! Do you have any idea the kind of business we’re losing over your stupid bullshit!?” I tried to back away as he started approaching ‘me’, running into the door. _

_ “I-I’m sorry! I-I don’t know why they’re complai-” I dodged when he tried to smash my head with the bottle, the result instead being him hitting the door frame. _

_  “Don’t you fucking dare to lie to me! You know damn well what you’re doing, you’re doing it to drive business away! After everything I’ve ever done for you, and this is the thanks I get!?”  _

_  “I-I don’t k-know! I swe-” I was cut off by his hand clamping down on my throat, cutting off my voice and my air. _

_  “So you don’t know about the other marks appearing on you!?  You don’t fucking know about them not being satisfied!? You don’t- what the hell is that?” He dropped me on the other side of the room before walking over to the door and answering it. Standing in the doorway was Tyler, who looked towards me very timidly before standing more bravely at the door step. _

_ “I-I’m sorry to knock at such a late time, b-but I heard noises that sounded like some sort of struggle, a-and wanted to make sure everything was okay…” I stared up at him frantically, trying to plead with my eyes for him to leave. _

_  “Who the hell are you?” _

_  “I-I’m sorry sir, m-my name’s Tyler. I live do-down the street, and I was worried. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay before deciding to call the cops or anything.” His eyes widened before he scoffed. _

_  “Stupid nosy kids… go back home, we’re fine.” _

_  “O-Okay, have a nice night.” The door slammed shut before my dad looked over and started yelling at me again. _

_ “So that’s the little shit! Isn’t he?” _

_  “I-I don’t u-under-” He cut me off again by smacking me across the face, the same cheek that was still red from last time. _

_ “You fucking liar! You dirty slut, you don’t think I hear you! Hear you screaming ‘oh Tyler, Tyler!’ every time you’re working! You lying homosexual piece of shit! Either get your shit together and help this family or get the fuck out! I’ve warned you before, and you still fucking do it!” _

_  “But I-” I groaned loudly when he punched me hard in the gut. _

_  “You always were a weak pussy who couldn’t take a single blow… You better be out of here by the morning. And if I ever see you here again, I’ll- I’ll- It’ll be bad, I can assure you! As far as I’m concerned, you never were a son of mine.” I looked up at him with tears in my eyes before making my walk of shame upstairs to my room. After packing what I could into a small bag, I turned to leave- my dad standing in the doorway. _

_ “You fucking disgrace- you just let the whole family down! Not that you would care, since none of us are your stupid little boyfriend.” The anger resided in his eyes for a split moment, replaced with disappointment before he punched me in the face hard. _

_ “Don’t let me ever see you back here.” _


End file.
